300 stories by "Laura Molzahn"
A bit of blissed-out Americana, of escapist fantasy, goes down pretty easy these days. And that's what Giordano Dance Chicago delivers with Ray Leeper's new "Feelin' Good Sweet." A former Gi…
At what point does the animal turn into the human? Fear into love? The everyday into magic? The brilliance of choreographer Christopher Wheeldon's re-imagined "Swan Lake" is to bring into hi…
"You know, Degas was groundbreaking," says choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. "He painted ballet rehearsal the way it really is: The girls are sweaty, they have a bad back, they're leaning …
Cheerful, misshapen, Hedwig Dances' shared, evening-length work with Cuba's DanzAbierta is a Frankenstein baby, too charming to be a monster but nevertheless sutured together.
After 25 years, River North Dance Chicago looks stronger than ever " virtuosic, yes, but with even greater heart. Wednesday's gala program, packed with terrific music and lit to the nines, u…
Americans are a renegade bunch, as American Ballet Theatre's eclectic "All-American Celebration" reveals. True, its four works by three choreographers span 45 years, beginning in 1944. But e…
Misty Copeland seems to be everywhere these days: In a popular Under Armour commercial, on the CBS and ABC morning programs, and in the pages of "The New Yorker" as well as "teenVOGUE."
Choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker is nothing if not complicated. In an 18-minute YouTube video posted in 2013, she gave an extensive explanation of the sources and structures for just…
Everybody knows the perils and pleasures of the grab bag. You might fall in love with the tacky little trinket from the dollar store, or be left cold by the well-made objet d'art.
Being told a story can be delicious, and the three distinct, clear tales on the Joffrey's "Stories in Motion" program, through Sunday at the Auditorium, are little jewels, revealing the econ…
Founded on a whim in 2005 by former Pennsylvania Ballet dancers Christine Cox and Matthew Neenan, Philadelphia-based BalletX is on the cusp of national attention. But the repertory company's…
"You be nasty," Edward Villella instructs April Daly. He tells her partner, Ogulcan Borova, just as pointedly: "She scares the bejesus out of you."
Khecari specializes in the odd: unusual states of mind, ambiguous emotional tones, cockeyed takes on history, mythology, politics. Slant rhymes are the rule.
Three women, dressed in slips, get ready to go out for the evening, each examining herself in an invisible mirror and reacting to the process and the prospect.
Some of the classical dance this fall has been bent, folded or mutilated " in the best possible way, of course. It's set to indie rock, transformed into a ballet within a ballet, dedicated t…
"I'm really trying to find out what makes people dance," says choreographer Jan Bartoszek. "It's got to come from the whole body " it's not just intellectual, not about mimicking."
The mood was buoyant, the choreography masterful, the dancing accomplished. At any price, Wednesday's performance would have been a winner.
"You get some news, and then it's like: OK, all right"it's a new idea, a new thing," says choreographer Kyle Abraham, talking about the turn of events that inspired his Hubbard Street world …
"Discontented" doesn't begin to describe the fraught relationships and violent discord of the family in Aloft Circus Arts' restaging of a 2008 show. Despite " or perhaps because of " being t…
Now that gay marriage is legal, at least in some states, and those with HIV can be treated, if not cured, HBO's recent adaptation of Larry Kramer's 1985 play "The Normal Heart" might seem a …
"Tron: End of Line" is a glorious train wreck, a five-car collision at the corner of pop culture and technology. It takes off from the "Tron" empire, inspired by the ur-video game "Pong" and…
DANCE REVIEW: 'The Long and Forgotten Winter' at Ruth Page ★★½
DANCE REVIEW: 'The Long and Forgotten Winter' at Ruth Page ★★½
"I wake up every morning, sit on the bed, and next thing I know I'm moving my feet," says tap-dancer Cartier Williams. "It's just naturally happening. I'm getting ready for the day, I'm hear…
DANCE CARD: "Bird Lady" by Rebecca Salzer Dance Theatre
"Bird lady" was the nickname North Shore teenagers gave Vivian Maier, the Chicago-area nanny/photographer who gained fame only after …
DANCE CARD: "I had no musical training," says choreographer Paul Taylor, 83, revered for his musicality. "At Juilliard there was a class, but it was early in the morning, and it was very bor…
