Dance Top 5: December 2023 by Sharon Hoyer

It's the season for Nutcrackers and other holiday delights.

A Little Child Shall Lead Them: Akram Khan Company Brings a “Jungle Book” For The Age of Climate Change by Sharon Hoyer

London-based choreographer Akram Khan brings his eponymous company to the Harris Theater for the first time, with a near-future version of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" set in a rewild…

Dance Top 5: November 2023 by Sharon Hoyer

Clear your first two weekends: November is front-loaded with dance from mixed-rep to immersive storytelling.

A Return to Return to Patience: A Preview of Hubbard Street Dance at the Harris Theater by Sharon Hoyer

Aszure Barton, who embarks this season on a three-year stint as resident choreographer for Hubbard Street, is reviving “return to patience,” a piece she created in 2015 for students at t…

Ways of Seeing: A Preview of Mad Shak’s “Ex/Body: strike, vibrate, shatter” at Studio5 by Sharon Hoyer

Molly Shanahan and Mad Shak know that when she says “Bodies are so much more than what is visually perceived,” she means not only that the vast interior world of individual experience is…

Palimpsests: A Preview of S45 at SITE/less by Sharon Hoyer

For “S45," Michelle Kranicke and Paige Cunningham-Caldarella invited three choreographers to join them in taking a section of Merce Cunningham's “Suite for Five” as a jumping off point…

Dance Top 5: October 2023 by Sharon Hoyer

From Frankenstein to Merce Cunningham, there's dance provocation on stage for everyone.

Safe, Exuberant and a Real Good Time: A Preview of Instigation Festival by Sharon Hoyer

"We brought old and new friends together to take creative risks at multiple venues across Chicago and magic ensued. We shared a similar non-verbal language. This magic has transpired for the…

Can’t-Miss Dance Events (Fall Arts Preview 2023) by Sharon Hoyer

From futurism to Jungle Book revisited, this fall dance season has a big range.

Jerry and Mr. Joffrey: A Centennial Celebration of Gerald Arpino, Co-Founder and “Architect of the Dancers” of One of America’s Premier Ballet C by Sharon Hoyer

On January 14 of this year, the big brother to dozens of ballet luminaries in the United States would have celebrated his hundredth birthday. To commemorate the occasion, the Gerald Arpino F…

Dance Top 5: September 2023 by Sharon Hoyer

The fall season kicks off with a series of festivals.

Spirit of Yes: Harris Theater Celebrates Twenty in Millennium Park by Sharon Hoyer

Harris will kick off its emerald anniversary with an all-day, outdoor festival spread across Millennium Park. Festivities culminate in a three-hour performance in the Pritzker Pavilion of a …

Encouragement and Drive: A Preview of Dance for Life at the Auditorium Theatre by Sharon Hoyer

“Dance for Life” is an annual concert that raises money for The Dancers’ Fund, which provides health care assistance for dancers and people who work in the dance field. But it also hap…

Past and Present Power: Muntu Dance Theatre Celebrates “Lineage” at the Logan Center for the Arts by Sharon Hoyer

Performances by Muntu invoke the power of the past in brilliant hues and thunderclaps: drumming, dance and song so joyfully kinetic it would be cruel to ask any other company to follow them.

Dance Top 5: August 2023 by Sharon Hoyer

Great dance heats up August: North Side, South Side, West Side and Downtown.

Open Doors: A Preview of DisFest at the Chicago Cultural Center by Sharon Hoyer

This Saturday, oft-overlooked artists take over the Chicago Cultural Center in the first DisFest, a daylong festival featuring multidisciplinary work by artists with disabilities. Thirty art…

Titans of Culture: A Review of “The Big Bang: Movement Theory + the Black Dancing Body” at Art on The Mart by Sharon Hoyer

This three-act visual story connects traditional African dance to twentieth and twenty-first century American forms. Through the magic of editing, West African stomps give way to tap and hip…

Don’t Close Your Eyes: A Few Words on Physical Theater Festival Chicago by Sharon Hoyer

Ten years ago, Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost created a small festival for theater artists whose preferred method of storytelling is beyond words. Now, Physical Theater Festival Chicago works…

Dance Top 5: July 2023 by Sharon Hoyer

Dance abounds this summer, lots of it free and outdoors.

The Rhythm of Life: A Preview of “Joffrey for All Celebration” in Millennium Park by Sharon Hoyer

Enduring Legacies: A Preview of “Flamenco Passion” at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts by Sharon Hoyer

Ensemble Español’s annual “Flamenco Passion” concert will give a taste of the international high-profile partnerships the organization has cultivated over its long tenure.

Journey to the Interior: A Review of The Memory Place at The Edge Theater by Sharon Hoyer

"The Memory Place” is the tenth iteration of Pivot Arts’ annual festival of theater, music, dance and multidisciplinary performance. This year the co-curators gathered five pieces under …

Beyond Boundaries: Mandala Maker Festival Moves to Devon Avenue by Sharon Hoyer

Through Grief and Frustration, Joy: A Review of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre by Sharon Hoyer

Known for dances made alongside original music, CRDT presents an evening of work by choreographer Monique Haley. The program, centered around the world premiere of the now-complete “Soul R…

Dance Top 5: June 2023 by Sharon Hoyer

Dance puts a toe into the great outdoors this month

Favorites, New and Newer: A Preview of Hubbard Street Dance’s “Facets” at the Harris Theater by Sharon Hoyer

Rennie Harris’ new piece, a tribute to Chicago House music and legendary DJ Frankie Knuckles, will appear alongside recent commissions from Hope Boykin, Randy Duncan, and a world premiere …

Spring Eternal: Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble Finds Renewal in The Wasteland by Sharon Hoyer

For Ellyzabeth Adler, founder and artistic director, T.S. Eliot’s heap of broken images is a longtime literary favorite and the source material for the first dance theater piece she create…

Dance Top 5: May 2023 by Sharon Hoyer

From Frank Lloyd Wright to T.S. Eliot, dance shows its range in May.

Desire Undenied: A Preview of American Ballet Theatre’s “Touché” at Auditorium Theatre by Sharon Hoyer

"I get to see gay love in a way I’ve yearned for most of my life and never believed I would see in a ballet context."

Existential Geometries: A Preview of “META | MOR | PHOS” and “SYZYGY” at the Ruth Page Center by Sharon Hoyer

Hedwig Dances' sequel to Oskar Schlemmer's 1922 avant-garde ballet is fascinating, playful and downright trippy. Figures parade toward the audience like a Kandinsky come to life.

Season of Abundance: Chicago Repertory Ballet Presents Four New Works by Founder Wade Schaaf by Sharon Hoyer

I wanted to put what I’m into on stage. I’ve been very into an exploration of meditation and my own spiritually. And I’m very into disco.