300 stories by "Laura Molzahn"
Reverence for the past and hope for the future drive the thrilling, sometimes ecstatic "Supreme Love," presented by Tapman Productions and performed by M.A.D.D. Rhythms. Thankfully, that ear…
It was a drippy night at the Pritzker Pavilion on Saturday: The last performance of this year's Chicago Dancing Festival pretty much laid to rest the notion that a free concert under the sta…
How easy to read should dance be? Intentionally or not, the Chicago Dancing Festival's opening night, Tuesday at the Harris Theater, investigated that perennial question, presenting five wor…
Seated in the front row, we were spattered with little, wet strands of Silly String, courtesy of a randy hand puppet. Later, we were showered with sparks: Think the workshop scene in "Magic …
Seated in the front row, we were spattered with little, wet strands of Silly String, courtesy of a randy hand puppet. Later, we were showered with sparks: Think the workshop scene in "Magic …
"I've always been bothered by the ballet 'Sleeping Beauty' - irritated by it, really, because no story ever gets told," says choreographer Lar Lubovitch. That thought fathered his most recen…
"I've always been bothered by the ballet 'Sleeping Beauty' - irritated by it, really, because no story ever gets told," says choreographer Lar Lubovitch. That thought fathered his most recen…
We laughed, we cried. We laughed again, whenever emcees Joey Bland and Tim Mason came back onstage, cracking wise or introducing projected videos of themselves "auditioning" or taking orders…
River North Dance Chicago has announced Monday that Frank Chaves will retire in fall 2015 after 23 years as artistic director of the 25-year-old company.
"It's our 40th anniversary," crows Joel Hall, "and that happens only once in my life. I am thrilled to still be able to do this after 40 years."
Picture this: A timid, would-be mariner arrives in a crowded New England whaling port - and winds up sharing a bed with a nearly naked, heavily tattooed, oddly coiffed reputed cannibal, the …
Picture this: A timid, would-be mariner arrives in a crowded New England whaling port - and winds up sharing a bed with a nearly naked, heavily tattooed, oddly coiffed reputed cannibal, the …
Sometimes you let a kid loose in a candy store, and the results are not pretty. Judgment goes out the window; excess ensues.
Thodos Dance Chicago's 15th annual "New Dances" program made a strong showing this year in performances Saturday and Sunday at the Athenaeum Theatre. On Sunday, the eight Thodos dancer-chore…
One of the tragedies of our segregated city is that, though the physical distance between white and African-American cultures is small, the artistic chasm can be huge. An August Wilson play …
"I danced before I walked," says Tommy Tune, adding modestly that this is "hearsay" from his parents. "I'd be crawling through the living room, and music would come on the radio-and I'd get …
Fear, hatred, violence: These are the monumental subjects that preoccupy Ahmad Simmons and Kacie Smith in Pursuit Productions' ambitious new "THEM."
In conversation, choreographer Ahmad Simmons and director Kacie Smith are so in synch they might be brother and sister, regularly finishing each other's sentences. Maybe that should come as …
Death and its effect on the living inspired butoh dancer Tadashi Endo's solo "IKIRU" ("Life"), performed Wednesday night only at the Old Town School of Folk Music as Endo's U.S. debut. Born …
Dame Libby Komaiko, who founded Ensemble Espanol at Northeastern Illinois University in 1975, must be proud of the house that love built. Her own profession of love - "Tiempos de Goya" (1990…
The adage "dying is easy, comedy is hard" must have driven choreographer Carlos Acosta when he tackled the baggy monster that is Marius Petipa's "Don Quixote." Every directorial decision, fr…
"It was great, everybody standing up at the end," says Carlos Acosta, talking about the recent U.S. premiere of his "Don Quixote" at the Kennedy Center. Though Acosta has performed in the St…
Aerial Dance Chicago leaves the circus in the dust in "Shifting Limits," a well-paced program of 10 works - 8 of them new - running Saturday and June 27-28 at the Ruth Page Center. Founded i…
Aerial Dance Chicago leaves the circus in the dust in "Shifting Limits," a well-paced program of 10 works " 8 of them new " running Saturday and June 27-28 at the Ruth Page Center. Founded i…
Swift change marks the dances of Alejandro Cerrudo, since 2009 Hubbard Street's prolific resident choreographer. But he takes a different tack - somewhat different - in the new octet "Still …
