What do Adam and Eve, out-of-control goth dolls, Etta James, multiple personalities, and Metallica have in common? Innervation Dance Cooperative has brought them all together in their upcoming dance concert, Our Own Devices. IDC's roots are in theater and contemporary dance, and the many choreographers and dancers come from wildly different backgrounds. These qualities always lead to an eclectic show, and the company's mainstays of narrative dancing and a high-energy, multi-layered aesthetic bring it all together. In this concert, each of the eight choreographers presents the audience with a different struggle and shows us what happens when groups and individuals are left to their "own devices." The subjects range from a comedic and sultry reinterpretation of Eve's relationship with the Snake, to the frustration, bliss, and heartbreak involved in pursuing a man, to a portrayal of a woman whose mind created multiple personalities to deal with childhood abuse, to goth-esque dolls running amok in the dollhouse. There are eye-opening moments of intensity and belly-shaking moments of comedy, thought-provocation and good times guaranteed.
For those interested in the African dance style but are unable to attend "Dance Africa 2009" when it hits Chicago on Friday, Oct. 30, here is the next best thing: Dance classes taught by renowned, professional African dancers.
On Saturday, Oct. 31, dancers from Lesole's Dance Project and the Pamodzi Dance Troupe from Zambia will teach classes in the art of South African/Zambian dance. The classes are from 10:30am until 12:30pm (check-in begins at 10am) and will be held at the Lou Conti Dance Studio, 1147 W. Jackson Blvd. The fee for the classes is $12 and must be paid in advance. For more information, call 773.947.0600.
These are the sounds that will permeate the Harold Washington Cultural Center, 4701 S. King Dr., this weekend during the Fifth Annual Chicago Tap Summit.
Put on by M.A.D.D. (Making A Difference Dancing) Rhythms, a Chicago-based dance company whose mission "is to spread the love and joy of tap worldwide," this summit will feature dance classes, workshops, and panel discussions on the art of tap dancing.
The summit will be highlighted by "Take 5," a ceremony honoring legendary tap dancers Prince Spencer, Harold Comer, Robert L. Reed, Chicago-born Jeni Le Gon, and the late Ernest 'Brownie' Brown, and their amazing contributions to the tap dance world.
This action-packed weekend (all events take place at the Harold Washington Cultural Center) begins Friday, Oct. 30 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 1. Individual tap dance classes range from $30-$50; packages are also available. Tickets to the "Take 5" ceremony are $20 (group rates are available). For more information, please call 773.604.1899.
Last night was my final West African Dance class of the current session, and we had a recital onstage at the Old Town School of Folk Music. The school is housed in a grand building on Lincoln Avenue that was once a library and retains traces of its bookish past; above the stage is a WPA mural underscored by the words "enjoy toys, the world we live in, making airplanes, boats, books tell us of King Arthur, costume and pioneer days, building skyscrapers, electricity." My fellow classmates and I - six of us in all, got on stage to the rhythm of live djembe drumming, and brought the house down. After spending eight weeks dancing in the studio classroom, it was gratifying to perform in front of an audience, and the group assembled at the Old Town School couldn't have been less judgmental - everyone in the auditorium had to get on stage at some point, making the atmosphere less American Idol and more like talent night at summer camp. We practiced our dance moves in the hallway as a group of musicians rehearsed Will The Circle Be Unbroken, it was a quintessential Old Town School moment.
The six of us stood across from each other on the stage, three on each side, and at the appropriate drumbeat - what our teacher calls "the break," we started moving towards each other in dance formation until we'd found our mark, faced the audience, and moved to the next step. Midway through the dance we formed a circle using dance steps and then moved back to our original spots, a maneuver that wowed the audience. I was standing up front at stage right, and could see the audience - mostly guitar students, with instruments in their laps or in cases sitting next to them. Our dance lasted all of three minutes, and we received a truly raucous round of applause and shouts for our efforts. It was fantastic. Three West African Dance classes performed in a row, ceaseless drumming spurring on one class after the next. After that came the Middle Eastern Belly Dancers in all their jangly, hip-centered self-confidence, the metal disks on their hip scarves bouncing in unison like a school of small, shiny fish.
Chicago Dance Crash is offering us a sneak peek behind the madness that is their latest show the Drawing Board. The Drawing Board dance performance is comprised of various submissions by fans and friends of Dance Crash, some extremely odd and some extremely creative. If you didn't catch their performance at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts last week, then this video is a great reason to see Dance Crash this weekend. Ticket and performance information can be found on Dance Crash's official website.
Chicago's Dance Crash is turning a new leaf this season with their latest show The Drawing Board. In previous performances Dance Crash has done everything from breaking to ballet, and for their upcoming performances at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts the dance troupe will be dancing your ideas! Since the beginning of January dance aficionados have been submitting possible ideas, good and bad, for Dance Crash's fall performance. Be prepared for ninjas versus pirates, light sabre armed zombies, and other weird mash-ups with Dance Crash's signature talent. The show runs at the Ruth Page Center Friday and Saturday, September 18 and 19 and Friday and Saturday, September 25 and 26. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door. Get ready for one of the weirdest dance performances you'll ever see.
One lucky Gapers Block reader can win a pair of tickets to tomorrow night's Saturday performance by sending an email to contests@gapersblock.com with "Dance Crash" in the subject line. One winner will be selected at random at 5pm Friday, September 18. Good luck! UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations to Oriana!
"Fondly Do We Hope" showcases Tony award-winning dancer Bill T. Jones' interpretation of the many complexities and contributions of Abraham Lincoln, as told through interpretative dance and song. The performance will examine Lincoln's legacy and "will expose the great distance between what is and what could have been."
Have you ever wondered what Walter from The Big Lebowski (the angry Vietnam vet played by John Goodman) would look like wearing pasties? Well, how about if Walter were played by a burlesque professional by the name of Wham Bam Pam? Titillating, perhaps?
A theme of examining identity through multidisciplinary infusions will take the Museum of Contemporary Art's stage this season as forthcoming core performances were recently announced.
The self-examining premise could also be reflected off-stage as well this year as the MCA continues efforts to advance performances, exhibitions and educational services by converging digital media.
"We hope to draw people's native interests in music, dance and theater while at the same time crossing interdisciplinary work: infusing music with dance, film with music, [etc.]," said MCA Director of Performance Programs, Peter Taub. "By and large we are living within this multidisciplinary world--so, why do we have to think of [performance] in discipline categories?"
Here's a preview of the MCA's highly anticipated multimedia performances--which will you attend?
We told you about this last year, and now here's this year's opportunity to experience some of the best dance in the country. The Chicago Dancing Festival again brings together some of the biggest names in American dance, and all for us lucky Chicagoans to enjoy for free! The indoor performances this past Thursday and Friday "sold out" (you had to reserve your free ticket) incredibly far in advance, but there's no reservation required for this Saturday's show, which will showcase such heavy hitters as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and American Ballet Theater. Bring your picnic baskets and blankets and start camping out early because this is sure to draw an enormous crowd. Saturday, August 22, 7:30 p.m., Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park.
In addition to the pinnacle event tomorrow night, if you're hanging out in Millennium Park during the day, you might get involved in the dancing yourself! Members of DanceWorks Chicago will be presenting Twyla Tharp's "interactive performance,"The One Hundreds. They will be teaching random park visitors a collection of 11-count movement phrases that use actions such as walking and throwing a ball. If you want to find them, here's their schedule: Saturday, August 22, 12:30pm Wrigley Square; 3pm Cloud Gate; 5pm on the lawn by Pritzker Pavilion.
Are you getting tired of people-watching at the corner sandwich shop? Have you exhausted the office-wide lunchtime debate over which bachelor(ette) is the skankiest? Throw a little culture into the mix and attend the Harris Theater's new performance series, Eat to the Beat. All they ask of you is $5, and you get to sit in the gorgeous theater and watch the crowd-pleasing DanceWorks Chicago's 45-minute performance. Performances will be September 15, November 17, and February 23, each starting at noon and running 45 minutes. My Witness, the September 15 performance, will be accompanied live by the Chicago-based folk group Sons of the Never Wrong, and followed by a Q&A session with the dancers and a mini-set by the Sons. The November and February shows promise to be equally collaborative and exciting. Certainly more exciting than taking bets on exactly how many days it will be before Ted in cube 4-135 throws his stapler against the wall again.
You can reserve a box lunch in advance and it will be waiting for you in the lobby, or you can bring your own lunch into the theater. And you don't even have to be sneaky about it!
$5 per performance or $10 for a subscription to the three-performance season. Click here or call 312-334-7777 for tickets. Sept. 15, Nov. 17, Feb. 23 at noon. Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, 205 E. Randolph Dr.
All the performances take place in the first floor performance space at the museum; enter at the north end of the building. Tickets are available online or at the museum.
It is hard enough to break into the acting scene without having to deal with searching for and deciphering audition requests. Now Chicago actors and actresses are getting some help from TheatreInChicago.com and its new Auditions Page. A comprehensive list provides Equity and Non-equity theater and film auditions throughout Chicago, making it easy for actors to find job opportunities.
The Auditions Page is updated frequently, and each listing shows all the information actors need such as audition material, time commitment, locations, play and character summary, and who to contact. Right now there are auditions separated into Equity, Non-equity, Dance, and Film, but another section for technicians, directors, etc. will be debuted soon. On top of auditions and job postings, there will be a Resources Page available to locate head-shot photographers, acting classes, and various other networking tools.
No sign-up or registration is necessary to use this web page, so actors can start using it today. For further questions, inquiries, or suggestions, please email auditions@theatreinchicago.com.
Chicago's Dance Crash troupe has been wowing audiences and critics alike for the past year, even going as far as to garner the reader's choice award for best dance company in the Reader's Best of Chicago 2009. This week in celebration of Pride Week, KTF is stepping up at the Lakeshore Theater after their blow-out closing performance in for an all-Prince purple revolution. Crash Dance's competitions feature every style of dance, from breaking to ballet, which can only help bring out the madness in style Prince has in his catalog. Renowned Chicago breaker Torsion headlines the dance tribute to the funky man himself.
Chicago Dance Crash continues their late night dance series at the Lakeshore Theatre (3175 N. Broadway). The one-night only show is Friday, June 26th at 10:30 pm. Tickets are $10, and VIP tickets are $15. However, KTF is giving away a pair of tickets to their Friday night show for Gapers Block readers! Email contests@gapersblock.com with "KTF" in the subject line. One winner will be selected at random by Thursday, June 24 at 5 pm. Good luck! UPDATE: Congratulations to Megan, our winner!
The Joffrey Ballet has begun their Spring Program, and the evening is all about human interaction. This is a fantastic program for the dance lover, and a healthy challenge for the novice. Of the four pieces presented on opening night, only one truly "took me away," but, as ever, the talent and freshness of the Joffrey coursed throughout the evening.
Joffrey's Winter Season included Nijinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (see my comments on that masterpiece), and in their tribute to the Ballets Russes, it follows that they would put on his sister Irina Nijinska's historic work, Les Noces, set to music by Stravinsky. This ballet depicts an arranged marriage between a Russian peasant man and woman, and Nijinska wanted to "convey the injustices that Russian women had long endured in their primitive surroundings." The movement quality, as in Sacre, reinforces this un-cheerful sentiment. The dancers' feet are always parallel rather than turned out, and their bodies remain rigid. It's fascinating to watch Nijinska's philosophy at work: the body and choreography convey the emotions, while the face remains blank, and no "acting" is allowed. This is an important ballet to keep intact, an important ballet for modern audiences to be able to see, and when all of the elements worked together, they worked very well.
Next was Valses Poeticos, a piece for a couple choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, with Enrique Granados's piano accompaniment played masterfully by a soloist onstage.
Chicago Dance Crash is in the middle of their run of "Movement/Gentlemen," a dance concert series with nothing but ... men! While the vast majority of small to mid-sized dance companies in the city are weighted toward the lady dancers, CDC has managed to get together a bunch of powerful danseurs. And with their personal, in-the-round staging, their athletic combination of contemporary dance, hip-hop, ballet, and acrobatics, and a handful of "progressive choreographers," this show promises to be physical and in-your-face enough for even the most studly of dudes to appreciate.
Running every Friday (7:30pm), Saturday (7:30pm), and Sunday (3:00pm) from now through May 3. DCA Storefront Theater, 78 E. Washington St. Tickets are $22 at the door, $19 in advance, $17 for students and seniors. Click here to order tickets and to see some rockin' photos of the men.
Want a circus without all the animal cruelty and screaming children? Then check out the El Circo Cheapo Cabaret this Saturday at the Aloft Loft. Marvel at the high wire antics and flexibility of the cabaret's jugglers, acrobats, and trapeze artists, including the Circo Cheapo's first ever tightwire act and a trapeze act by a 5-year-old "future Russian circus star."
And if you find yourself wishing you could fly through the air with the greatest of ease, the Aloft Loft offers beginner trapeze and aerial conditioning classes for just $35 a session (cheaper if you commit to a regular schedule).
There are two performances this Saturday, at 7 and 10pm. Both are $10 and tickets are available online. More information in Slowdown.
The Joffrey Ballet's Winter Season opened last night, and the audience managed to get through the whole show without attacking each other in the aisles. ... More on that in a moment.
The program begins with "Kettentanz" (choreographed by Gerald Arpino, music by Strauss and Mayer), a ballet inspired by the social dances of Vienna. While the light, tripping steps might look like your stereotypical, charming ballet, it's impossible to forget that these dancers are athletes. If you watch carefully, you'll notice that the piece is a 30-minute-long race with hardly a break for these smiling, poised dancers who throw in a hearty feeling of camaraderie while making the intensely hard work look effortless.
Next up is "Mobile" (choreographed by Tomm Ruud, music by Khachaturian), which absolutely succeeds at recreating Calder mobiles with nothing more than a man, two women, and three white unitards. This isn't quite Cirque du Soleil, but even when the man isn't supporting the two women who are holding themselves at right angles to his body (wow!), the lighting, costumes, and shapes are full of the tension and energy that occurs when three individuals act as a unit.
The third piece is "Hand of Fate," the pas de deux from the Balanchine ballet Cotillon (music by Chabrier). I can't believe I'm saying this about the great Balanchine, but the dance, although executed beautifully, was more or less forgettable. Especially considering what came next.
Of course, the reason most of the audience was there was for Le Sacre du Printemps ("The Rite of Spring"), Vaslav Nijinksy's 1913 ballet that revolutionized the dance world.
If you're trying to think of something a little more creative to do on Valentine's Day weekend, look no farther. A list of a bunch of dance-related events and activities for your perusal:
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, one of the city's most renowned dance companies, is trying something new this year. They're offering a Family Workshop Series, an opportunity for children (ages 3 to 8) and their parents to be introduced to dance through doing. According to their site, workshop attendees will "participate in dance movement in various cultural settings around the city," including the Art Institute of Chicago (1/31), the Chicago Botanic Garden (2/14), Hubbard Street Dance Center (3/21), and The Center on Halsted (3/28). The workshops are only $5 per person, and they begin this coming Saturday, January 31, 1:00-3:30. For tickets and info, call HSDC (312-850-9744).
The general public will have the rare opportunity to witness all the hope, joy, anxiety, and realized (or crushed) dreams of dancers this weekend when DanceWorks Chicago opens the doors to their audition. Free of charge, anyone can come sit in the audience and watch the audition process, which consists of a ballet class (and eliminations) followed by repertoire (and oh, more eliminations). There will even be people milling about, ready to answer your questions. It's all happening Sat., Jan. 10, 1:00 to 4:00 (doors open at 12:30 and you can come and go as you please), at The Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan Avenue. FREE. Click here for more information.
Jennifer Gage has been dancing ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and everything in between for decades and hit the Chicago dance community in 1991. She has performed with numerous Chicago companies, including the great Joel Hall Dancers, and started her own dance company, GI Alliance. She loves listening and choreographing to Metallica, got significant inspiration from a giant cast on her foot, and can touch the back of her head with her knee. GB managed to catch up with her at midnight just after she had finished performing a ballroom number in a contemporary dance company's concert.
When and how did you start dancing?
I started dancing because I was a complete clutz when I was a child and had zero coordination. My mom decided to take control and enroll me in dance classes to give me a bit of grace. I teased her when she came to see me do some professional shows when I was in my 20s. That's when it dawned on her that I'm really a professional dancer and that's what I do. She said, "I didn't know what that meant until I saw it. My daughter always had 15 little jobs and was dancing on the side. Now I can tell people my daughter is a professional dancer!"
You have absolutely no excuse for not seeing some fabulous local dance companies perform this month. For the 14th year, the overwhelmingly enormous Dance Chicago festival provides Chicagoans the opportunity to see 130 companies perform 300 works over a four-week span. And this weekend is your first chance.
You can go for the full monty and get a season package, or you can pick and choose from the conveniently categorized programs. For instance, if you want to see the cutting edge of Chicago's dance scene, try the New Moves concert or the Fringe Carnival. If you're looking for a great date night, try the evening of partner acts, Dance Romance. Can't get enough urban dancing? It's all in one place in the Chicago Streets program. There are programs for kids, programs full of jazz, and even a Dance Slam. Seriously, if you can't find something that tickles your fancy, don't blame the festival!
Dance Chicago runs from 11/7 to 11/30. All shows are at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport. Tickets range from $99 for a full season package to $15-$25 per performance, with lots of other package options in between. Go to the website for tickets, or call 773-935-6860.
Trying to find a new way to get your derriere in gear this fall/winter? Or maybe you've always wondered how those ladies in the '20s got their legs to flip around like that. Shake things up with some shakin', shimmyin' dance classes at The Galaxie. Choose from tap, swing, "dance fitness," honky tonk two-step, "Girl Power" Charleston, and ... you'll never guess ... okay, I'll tell you ... GO-GO dancing!! I'm not kidding.
Many of these classes (including go-go) start next week, so check out the website and get yourself signed up. The Galaxie is at 2603 W. Barry. 773-267-6010
Earlier this week, Rachel told you about some of the amazing dance events taking place this month. Hopefully this photo will inspire you to partake. For more stunning dance photography, check out contributor lucy.na's flickr stream.
If there's such a thing as a "Dance Season" in Chicago, we're in the thick of it. So pull out your calendars and start planning the rest of your October around some of these incredible dance viewing opportunities. And this isn't even to mention (yet) the dozens of shows coming up in November!
Chicago's premiere ballet company, the Joffrey Ballet begins its Fall Repertory tonight. (10/15-10/26)
One of the top modern/jazz companies in the country, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago calls our city home, and they'll be performing for us at the Harris Theater. (10/24 & 10/25)
Thodos Dance Chicago, one of Chicago's favorite modern dance companies, will be performing their Fall Concert at the Athenaeum Theater. (10/24-10/26)
And speaking of the Athenaeum, please excuse the brief foray into November, but tickets are now available for the 14th annual massive dance festival Dance Chicago (11/7-11/30). I'm sure I'll have more to say on this topic, but check out their website. Your old favorites are here, as well as new programs galore!
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) kicked off its 2008-2009 season with its Fall Series this past weekend. HSDC is providing Chicago four opportunities to see them at their home at the Harris Theater, so even if you missed the Fall Series, you have plenty more chances, and you really must see how these dancers move their bodies.
I imagine working with HSDC dancers must be a choreographer's dream. Refreshingly, there is no unifying body type in this company, no unifying personality; clearly, these dancers are permitted to be themselves. But there is an aesthetic of strength -- the kind of strength that allows for the appearance of physical abandon while maintaining complete control -- that runs through every dancer and every bit of choreography I've seen from Hubbard.
Chicago is home to so many modern dance companies that it can sometimes get overwhelming. Thank goodness for Chicago Moving Company's OTHER Dance Festival. CMC has both the artist and the audience in mind in providing a venue for local modern dancers, and a one-stop-shop for dance lovers to see 16 companies on one stage over three weekends. Forgive the late notice, but tonight and tomorrow are your last chance this year, so be sure to get on out there and take a look at some local artists. Who knows, maybe you'll find your favorite little Chicago company!
Thursday (10/2) and Friday (10/3), 7:30 p.m., $15 ($12 students/seniors), Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N. Hoyne. Click here for tickets or call BrownPaperTickets at 800.838.3006.
We could get into a long conversation on the subject of why I'm not usually drawn to dance that promises to "de-mystify" and "de-titillate" the "objectification of women." But when Breakbone DanceCo promises to mock themselves, mock a lot of the heavy-handed social commentary out there, and encourage the audience to laugh during this de-titillation, my interest is piqued. The "De-evolution of MUDWOMAN (an evening of dance exile, fashion, and humor)" begins with a "superficial poptart diva"--representing today's female role models--who de-evolves into the primordial female, complete with head-to-toe mud. The show is filled with entertainment, including a couture fashion show and videography, and is punctuated by commentary from three "expositors" who critique the goings-on throughout the evening.
Breakbone uses a unique, athletic style, and the MUDWOMAN choreography explores a movement-as-language standpoint with diverse sources, from sign language to "primal body posturing" to more standard dance techniques. The concert features work by award-winning choreographers Colleen Halloran and Atalee Judy, and former Hubbard Street Chicago dancer Cheryl Mann.
So if you want to participate in a high-energy and humorous journey toward the appreciation of the female form in its "most beautiful, raw, and primal state," go check out Breakbone at the Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago. It's running for two more weeks: August 28, 29, 30, and September 4, 5, 6, all shows at 9:00. $18 ($15 students and seniors). Click here for tickets or visit Breakbone's website for more information.
There are so many opportunities to see dance in Chicago, but the Chicago Dancing Festival really stands out. As if by magic, the Chicago Dancing Company pulls together some of the country's most renowned dance companies and presents them to the Chicago public for free. No strings attached. The founders of CDC believe that "good dance cultivates more dance," and that a free performance of some of the best dancing out there will create a greater audience for the art form. Regardless of the philosophy, get out there and take advantage of the opportunity!
The first night of this three-night festival is already sold out (er, "reserved out"), although there's a way to get stand-by vouchers. It just might be worth it, since some of the greatest dance companies in U.S. history (including the Limon Dance Company and the Martha Graham Dance Company, as well as Chicago's own Joffrey Ballet) are performing on the same stage. Monday, August 18, 7:30 p.m., Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph Dr. (See link above for stand-by vouchers.)
If you're interested in learning about the origins of modern dance from some people who would really know what the heck they're talking about (imagine learning physics from Einstein's #1 student), reserve your spot for Artists Up Close, where dancers and the respective artistic directors of the Limon and the Martha Graham Dance companies will present a multimedia lecture and demonstration exploring the birth of modern dance. Tuesday, August 19, 6 p.m., Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. Call 312-397-4010 for reservations.
On the third and final night, "A Celebration of American Dance" in Millennium Park is an evening of performances by some fantastic companies, including the American Ballet Theater (performing the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake--you can't get any better than that), Chicago's Hubbard Street Dance, and Muntu Dance Theater. It's not often you get the opportunity to see all of this dancing in one night, for free, while taking advantage of the best part of Chicago summers: sitting outside with your friends and a bottle of (ahem) grape juice with the skyline rising above you. Wednesday, August 20, 7:30 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion, Michigan Ave. and Randolph St. No reservations necessary, but get there early for a good spot!
Some people watch a dance performance and wonder what it would be like to be on stage. And some people take it a step farther. Open House Dance Collective, a division of HouseHold Arts Collective, invites community members--regardless of training or skill level--to come rehearse with professional choreographers. They perform professionally every summer, and this weekend's "OHD 5" is this year's culmination.
The Collective has been successful for five years running--increasing the number of dancers from 30 in '04 to 70 in '07. Their shows keep on sellin' out, which is fantastic since a portion of the proceeds always go to charity. This aligns with the dual mission of HouseHold Arts: to bring Chicago artists together, and to use that art as a vehicle to educate audiences and further the causes of local charities. "OHD 5" will benefit Inspiration Cafe, which provides restaurant-style meals, life skills training, case management, and other services at their Uptown location to help men and women overcome the causes of their homelessness.
Want to come see your neighbors-cum-professional dancers? You'll also get to see an appearance by Jump Rhythm Jazz Project. Shows continue tonight and tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. at the Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble St., Chicago. Tickets are $15, and reservations are highly recommended. Click here or call 773-342-4141.
A summer twilight rooftop party with vintners pouring their own wines while members of one of Chicago's favorite dance companies teaches you Bossa Nova moves from one of their popular works. No, this isn't just some fantasy of your friendly GB dance writer. This is the latest event from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. At Twilight on the Rooftop, HSDC's dancers will be teaching a lesson where "guests will discover how to 'Sway' Dean Martin-style to the rhythms of the Bossa Nova as they learn part of one of HSDC's most popular performance pieces." Meanwhile, attendees can snack on hors d'oeuvres and taste fine wines from nine Napa Valley wineries (be sure to read below whatcha get if you pay the big bucks). And if that's not enough, they will be raffling prizes, including a "Napa Valley winery experience." Yum!
If this sounds fabulous to you, be sure to RSVP by July 15. The event is Tuesday, July 22, 7-10 p.m. on the Rooftop of the East Bank Club, 500 N. Kingsbury St. Tickets are $75 per person, or get a VIP ticket for $125, which includes reserved seating with table-side wine service by the vintners themselves. Proceeds benefit HSDC. RSVP by phone at 312-850-9744, x164 or online.
If you're curious about an art form that is more than the sum of its parts (its parts being dance and martial arts), then Gingarte Capoeira Chicago has your weekend all planned out for you. In capoeira, what starts off looking like a partnered dance turns into an improvised fight--both aggressive and graceful--with kicks, throws, and acrobatics. The music is also instrumental (ha) in this art form that originated (arguably) in the sixteenth century with African slaves in Brazil who wanted to disguise their self-defense training. Today's capoeira dancers are disciplined and spiritual and, as with martial artists, consider it to be a way of life.
Gingarte has been around since 1991, teaching and promoting capoeira, as well as Brazilian music and language. They have an Academy in Pilsen where you can take advantage of their classes year-round, but July 10 through 13 is their 14th Annual Batizado e Troca de Cordões, where you can participate in workshops on capoeira, music, maculelê, and samba. Click the link for the weekend event schedule, registration information (register by July 9), and fees for adults and youth.
Of course, the weekend wouldn't be complete without an opportunity to see the artists at work. Gingarte Capoeira's "Resistência" performance is at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 12, at the University of Illinois Chicago, Performing Arts Theater, 1044 W. Harrison St. Tickets are $10 in advance (online ticket sales end Friday), $15 at the door, $5 ages 16 and under.
Local dance collective Live Animals hosts a “performance-infused social event” on Saturday, June 28, at Around the Coyote Gallery. The event, aptly called Dance/Party, will feature repertory work; sneak peeks of upcoming pieces choreographed by Live Animals members Kate Corby, Tess Dworman, and Caitin Marz; raffles; gummi bears; and—yep, you guessed it—one helluva a dance party. The night’s festivities will also include the Movebooth, a live take on the photo booth. (For participation in the Movebooth, bring an iPod.)
On the Live Animals blog, the three choreographers explain their motivation for throwing such a party: “One of our primary goals [as an organization] is to seduce you away from your couches and televisions…. We are fiercely committed to creating and maintaining breathing, moving, and feeling live human animals through events like this.”
For a very live, very moving experience, head to the ATC art space, located at 1935½ W. North Ave, at 8 pm on Saturday. General admission is $15 and includes refreshments. Student admission is $12 with a valid ID.
Every once in a while, Chicago Dance Crash holds a "Battle for the Belt" in which dancers battle it out to earn the title of Keeper of the Floor (KTF), complete with an enormous gold-plated ("forty pounds of gold") Championship Belt. Of course, the whole thing is more or less tongue-in-cheek, but this is a great chance to see some fantastic dancers improvising in styles as diverse as ballet, tap, and breaking. This is a high-energy competition where the audience picks the favorite. Check out CDC's performance footage to get a taste.
Friday 6/20, 10:30 p.m., $10, Lakeshore Theater (their KTF page has more info about the show) 3175 N. Broadway.
Ladies, get out those dancing shoes; guys, look for a sexy shirt. Summer Dance has arrived. Festivities kick off this Thursday – Sunday, in the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park (601 S. Michigan). Genres included: Honky-Tonk, Two-Step, Jitterbug and Rhumba. For the next eleven weeks, dance events occur every Thursday – Saturday, 6pm-9:30pm; Sundays 4pm-7pm. World music ensembles on Thursdays; Latin, swing, and steppin’ on Friday and Saturdays; ballroom and big band on Sundays. And yes, all events are free, thankfully. There are still some things that don’t change in a sluggish economy. For more information, call the Summer Dance Hotline, at 312-742-4007.
If you're a dance lover who doesn't have the cash for classes you're in luck. The Lou Conte Dance Studio, the school of Hubbard Street Dance is hosting a series of free classes in June.
The low down:
Friday night/ Saturday morning, 6/20 & 21
12am-2am
Cirque du Soleil performer and teaching artist Dionna PridGeon leads a midnight dance jam that incorporates jazz and hip hop. Open to all proficiency levels; pre-registration by phone at 312-850-9766 is required (participants ages 15 to 17 require parent approval).
Sunday, 6/22
11am-2pm
Lou Conte members lead beginner classes in ballet, modern, jazz, hip-hop, Pilates, African and tap. No pre-registration is necessary.
Attendees can purchase two summer session (runs through August 23) classes for the price of one. All classes held at Lou Conte Studio, 1147 W. Jackson Blvd.
If you've ever wondered about artists' creative process, if you enjoy watching great dancing and cutting-edge choreography--or if you're the type of person who relishes the opportunity to say, "Yeah, I knew about that way before it became so popular, ugh!"--then you'd best be heading over to the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago this weekend. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, one of our city's most popular dance companies, will be putting on its annual "Inside/Out" Choreographic Workshop Performance, an evening of works-in-progress that could eventually become part of the company's repertoire.
Every year, HSDC offers its dancers the opportunity to set choreography on their compatriots, and these dancers-turned-choreographers have created several of of today's fan favorites. (And I must say from personal experience, it does feel snarkily good to sit in the theater a couple months later to see a World Premiere that you saw in its infancy at "Inside/Out.") Of course, regardless of the works-in-progress nature of the evening, this is still Hubbard Street, so you know you're going to see a high-quality, accessible performance. They sold out last year, so be sure to reserve your seat!
June 6 @ 8:30, June 7 @ 6:00 and 8:30, Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. $20 general admission ($35 reserved section). To guarantee your seats, call 312-850-9744 (ext. 166), or visit the website for an order form.
I bet you didn't know that you missed National Tap Day. No kidding. Check out the U.S. Joint Resolution. The holiday was officially on May 25, the agreed-upon birthday of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. (If you've never seen the master at work, you've been missing out.) The supporters of the bill that brought National Tap Day into being have likened tap dancing to jazz music as far as its contribution to the national cultural and artistic heritage.
There was already one big celebration here in Chicago last weekend, put on by the Chicago Human Rhythm Project. But never fear! There's still plenty of hoofin' going on this Saturday at the Old Town School's National Tap Day Festival. Tappers from Chicago and beyond will be on stage, including grand marshals Reggio “The Hoofer” McLaughlin and nonagenarian tap man Ernest “Brownie” Brown.
May 31, 8 p.m., Gary and Laura Maurer Concert Hall, 4544 N. Lincoln Ave. Tickets are $20 ($18 for Old Town School members; $16 for students and seniors) and can be purchased via the box office (773.728.6000) or on the Web.
If you like the idea of ballet, but get a little squeamish by Act II of those classical "masterpieces," then Elements Contemporary Ballet might be just what you're looking for. Mike Gosney, the founder and artistic director of this Chicago company, has been creating dance that is truly ballet (the ladies wear pointe shoes, the movements come from a ballet vocabulary), yet truly contemporary (hey, ballerinas aren't supposed to stick out their hips like that!) since the company's inception three years ago.
This weekend, ECB presents its Spring Concert, featuring premieres of "Baroque Compositions" (set to Bach) and "Angel," as well as performances of some of the company's repertoire. A reception (free and open to the public) will follow the Saturday show, and will include an opportunity to meet the dancers, staff, and board of ECB, a wine and cheese tasting, and a raffle. Performances are May 23 and 24, 7:00 p.m. at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn. $17.50 general admission ($15 students and seniors). Click here for tickets, or call the box office at 312-337-6543.
This weekend and next, you'll get the chance to see some acrobatic dancers create a story in the air using ... giant lampshades. And picture frames and clotheslines and boots, oh my! Aloft Aerial Dance presents The Dinner of our Discontent, in which they tell the story--which "veers from heartbreaking to hilarious"--of five estranged sisters returning home after the sudden deaths of their parents. The company has spent some time in China since their last full-length show, and they picked up some tricks from Chinese acrobats who make use of every-day objects to create their art.
The show is May 16-18 and 23-25, 8:00 p.m. at the Aloft Loft, 941 N California Ave. (down the alley, in the back). Go to Brown Paper Tickets for...well...tickets at $20-$30.
As a side note--if you've ever wanted to join the circus but don't want to leave Chicago, you can learn how to be a trapezist right here! Check out the Aloft Loft for all the classes Aloft has to offer.
On the first Thursday of the next three months, dance critic Lucia Mauro will be hosting the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs series "About Dance," now in its fourth year. Each event in the series will feature a performance by a local choreographer or dance company, accompanied by a discussion with Mauro about that performer's artistic process. This month's contribution is sure to be entertaining. Matthew Hollis will perform "Let's Go Love!" in which he utilizes modern dance and his faux-self-help technique, the Power of Cheer (as in cheerleading) to pick apart and celebrate everything that is Love.
All of this entertainment is FREE at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 8, at the Chicago Cultural Center's Dance Studio, 78 E. Washington St. For more information, call 312-744-6630.
In keeping with the company's goals of inspiring "new perceptions of movement," Inaside Chicago Dance has created an evening of dancing inspired by the drip period of Jackson Pollock's artwork. In the Painting will be a "multimedia dance experience," beginning with a short film by Pedro Brenner (Inaside's photographer and award-winning film director) about Pollock's life and art, and continuing with choreographed works that include a multimedia element.
May 2 @ 8:00, May 3 @ 2:00 & 8:00. Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn. $20 general ($15 student/dancer/senior). Purchase tickets at the Ruth Page box office (312.337.6543).
The members of the think/dance collective bring their spirited, improvisational movement to the Lincoln Square Theatre this Thursday, April 24. Geared especially toward audiences with limited exposure to dance, think/dance performances incorporate text, video, and imaginative props (i.e., “shoes” made of white bread). Also performing are Asthmatic Kitty recording artist Half-handed Cloud and Olympia, Washington-based ensemble LAKE.
Wear your thinking cap to the Lincoln Square Theatre, 4754 N. Leavitt, this Thursday. The show starts at 8pm, and tickets are $7.
If your daydreams resemble Fame, then Open House Dance Collective might help you turn your fantasies into reality. On Sunday, May 4, the nonprofit holds its "Reverse Auditions," which link professional choreographers with aspiring dancers to "train" for a three-month period -- regardless of skill level -- in anticipation of performing. Seven different choreographers show their style of movement, with participants choosing their choreographer (instead of the other way around) by movement preference and rehearsal schedules. Just by virtue of showing up, you're in!
Participants get to dance in a professional-quality concert (to be held July 31-Aug. 2 at the Vittum Theater), with a portion of ticket sales going to two local charities.
3-5 p.m. Menomonee Club,1535 N. Dayton Street. For more info, contact info@householdarts.org.
If you haven’t cleared your calendar for the MCA’s upcoming Hip Hop Live + Reel, you might want to get on that. Born of New York City’s Hip Hop Theater Festival, Live + Reel is a four-day bonanza of hip hop culture. Artists from both coasts – including New York’s Reggie Watts and Bay Area lyricists The Suicide Kings – will be joining forces with local performers like Deja Taylor, whose work from Louder Than a Bomb has been recorded for Chicago Public Radio, and Teatro Luna, Chicago’s all-Latina theater company.
“This new format – two days of film and two days of live performances – creates a mini-festival atmosphere,” says MCA House Manager Surinder Martignetti. “The strength of combining local artists with national performers offers people such a great opportunity to see what’s happening out there and to really get involved.”
With all four days boasting a packed line up of spoken word performances, outstandingly original films and, of course, music (and only $5 for tickets to the films! Five! For the whole night!), the MCA is encouraging everyone to try to make the whole series. If you can only make one, though, I recommend aiming for Saturday, when The Suicide Kings’ In Spite of Everything, a startlingly timely play revolving around a school shooting, will be performed. Louder Than a Bomb 2008 winner Kuumba Lynx will also perform, and beatboxer Yuri Lane will close the night with an excerpt from his show From Tel Aviv to Ramallah: A Beatbox Journey.
Film night tickets are $5 for all screeings; performance nights are $16 member/$20 non-member. Student pricing is available. To see the full list of performances or to buy tickets on line, visit the MCA’s website, or call the box office at 312.397.4010 for more information.
For the next two weekends, the Chicago company (of which yours truly just happens to be a part) Innervation Dance Cooperative will present its contemporary dance interpretation of the play Everyman, set to music by Led Zeppelin. For those of you who might be familiar with your 15th-century morality plays, this rendition is stripped of religion and focuses on the "you can't take it with you" aspect of what's important in life. Everyman receives a visit from Death and begs for more time to find a companion to join her (it's an all-female cast) on that final journey. After her friends, family, Wealth, Beauty, Strength, and other less loyal compatriots turn their backs on her, she finds that her long-neglected Good Deeds and Conscience are the only support she can bring along. Of course, the ever-present Robert Plant and Jimmy Page refuse to allow the show to get preachy, and push the dancers to moments of passion and hilarity.
Performances are April 17, 19, 24, 25 at 7:30, and April 20, 27 at 2:30. Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N. Hoyne. $15 ($10 students/seniors). Purchase tickets at the door or contact Innervation at info@innervationdance.org or 773-230-2168.
This weekend at the MCA, you can see what one of America's great modern dance companies has to say about our "mediatized" world, touching on morality, humanity, and violence, the judicial process, and prison. The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company has been a major force in American modern dance for nearly 25 years. In this visit to Chicago, they will be presenting Chapel/Chapter, a performance that retells two "high-visibility" news stories and one company member's "reminiscence/confession." The music is performed live, the set plays a role, and video and spoken words are involved, all contributing to the choreographer's desire to create a "self-enclosed world." The show promises to be both intellectually and visually fascinating.
Shows are at the MCA, 220 E. Chicago Ave., on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30. Tickets are $35-$40 ($28-$32 for MCA members). For tickets and more information, including a video preview, visit the MCA's website.
If you're the kind of person who walks by municipal garbage cans piled high with empty Starbucks cups and winces at all the waste, then Monument, a new dance theater work by local multidisciplinary arts collective The Seldoms, is for you. The 50-minute work, which combines dance, music and video, addresses our culture's apparent addiction to consumption and waste, in which the landfill has become an "accidental social sculpture." Recently Monument choreographer Carrie Hanson took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about the performance, which runs April 10-12 at 8pm at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn. (For more info, call 312-328-0303.)
How did the idea for Monument develop?
The Monument project has been developing for over a year. The idea began broadly: The initial choreographic, sonic and imagistic impulses emerged from a consideration of the acts of preservation, creation and destruction. We started from several points of inquiry: in balancing concerns for short-term prosperity/survival with long-term prosperity/survival, what do we preserve? What are the economic forces and cultural ethos that influence our behavior and decisions as consumers? What tensions exist between our dual identities as consumer and citizen, and between private goods and the public good? And finally, what are the personal, social, and environmental effects of our collective and individual acts of production, consumption, and disposal?
As we began our research before going into the dance studio, we easily found a lot of information relating to consumption and waste. The facts, offering mind-blowing figures about the quantity of plastic bottles and tons of refuse, were impressive and daunting, but weren’t readily imaginable. It wasn’t until Doug Stapleton, The Seldoms’ artistic associate, found an article about the immense Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island that our understanding moved from statistics to a physical reality. The article stated that the landfill is visible from space, which helped us to grasp the scale, impact and monumentality of our collective practices of consumption and waste. The work’s title – Monument – makes reference to the landfill as accidental monument.
Renata Sheppard, an artist part of Links Hall's residency program, created a performance using non-dancers, exploring how people new to the art of dance would respond and move. These folks included a business exec, medical students and improv actors -- all of whom were total novices when the project began. After months of workshopping, they'll all make their debut in April:
Friday & Saturday, April 4 & 5, 8pm; Sunday, April 6, 7pm; $15
Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield, #207. Call (773) 281-0824 for more info.
Here are some options for this weekend (starting tonight!).
Chicago Moving Company presents Dance Shelter, CMC's annual artist-in-residence concert. March 27, 28 and April 3, 4 @ 7:30. $15 ($12 students), Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. Click here for more info and to purchase tickets.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Spring Series opens tonight. If you were to see only one Chicago company this year, I'd say these are the folks to see. Consistently fantastic performances, consistently accessible to a wide audience. Various dates, tonight through April 5. Their site has all the info you could need.
The final event in Links Hall's Choreographing Coalitions (see earlier GB entries about the series here and here) is Denise Uyehara's Big Head, an interdisciplinary performance piece that "revisits the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II and considers current-day treatment of those perceived as 'the enemy now.'" March 28, 29 @ 8:00, March 30 @ 7:00. $15 ($12 students). 3435 N. Sheffield, #207
For the next two weekends, Corpo Dance Company (born and bred in Chicago) will be performing under a new structural concept--well, at least it's new for dance. Contemporary music has been following the structure for decades: listen to the single, then flip the record to catch the remixed/reworked/rewoven version on the b-side. If you head to the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, you'll see original choreography by Christopher M. McCray (set to Bjork, Amon Tobin, Radiohead) in Act I. After the intermission, flip to the b-side to see "remixed" versions by several other area choreographers. And if that's not reminiscent enough of your favorite record, a local radio DJ will be announcing each piece as if you were listening to a live radio broadcast.
Corpo employs a "blend of urban, technical, and athletic movement styles" to create their dances. Tickets to b-sides are $20 in advance from the company's website, or $25 at the door. Shows are at 8 p.m. on March 21, 22, 28, and 29, and there's a 2:00 matinee on the 22nd. The Ruth Page Center is at 1016 N. Dearborn.
Choreographing Coalitions: Dancing the Other in the Self, Links Hall's and the Dance Center of Columbia College's month-long festival, continues this week. (See last week's GB entry, Voguing Demystified.) The festival brings together local and national "body-based artists" who base their work on themes of social justice. They assume that "the dancing body is a uniquely qualified instrument with which to explore the complexities of the social world."
In that vein, this weekend's performance by Victoria Marks is titled Not About Iraq. Rather, Marks says it's about "dancing, heroics, valor, and truth," and where the body fits into all of that. What does it mean to be a citizen and an artist? How can dancing speak about the human experience? There will be a post-show discussion after each performance where I'm sure these and many other socially relevant questions will be discussed.
The last two shows are tonight (3/15 at 8:00) and tomorrow (3/16 at 7:00) at Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield, #207. Tickets are $15 ($12 students and seniors). To reserve tickets, call Links Hall at 773.281.0824.
From an email sent by the company:
"Gus Giordano, founder/director emeritus of the critically acclaimed GiordanoJazz Dance Chicago, author, legendary choreographer and one of the fathers of American jazz dance passed away quietly in Chicago on Sunday, March 9 from pneumonia. He was 84."
The festival aims to "blend all forms of art, dance, text, music, and visual art into performances that capture and stimulate the mind." And media isn't the only diverse aspect of the festival. Take a peek at the subject matter. McIlvain's "dance for the camera," Three Men in Two Parts, follows three young men through a night in a bar. Shabam!'s West Side Story Redux views today's racism and division through the lens of the eponymous musical. Munch's Rubber Coated Chlorine takes a stab at "political speak" while the audience hears recordings of Adlai Stevenson at the United Nations in 1962. Performances will range from political and serious to light and warm-hearted, while subjects range from a Baptist church, to mid-life discovery, to death. There are even promises of belly dancing and traditional Butoh dancing!
Tickets are $15 ($10 students). Shows are March 13 and 14 at 7:30 at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N. Hoyne. 773-486-8261
Tonight marks the start of the latest month-long Links Hall dance festival, Chroegraphing Coalitions: Dancing the Other in the Self, curated by Artistic Associate Peter Carpenter. Three dancers--Darrell Jones, Gesel Mason & David Rousseve--take the stage to examine issues of race, color and sexuality through interpretive performance. Jones, of the 2007 show, Third Swan From The End, lifts the veil off this misunderstood dance form. Voguing started in the 70s and 80s among gays in Harlem who used the dance form of "striking poses," (stolen by Madonna to use in her popular 90s song, Vogue) to settle disputes in a non-violent manner. Yes, voguing is about more than just looking good, or imitating Vogue models, as Jones shows in his performance, in which "gay" and "black" represent a struggle for social justice.
Show opens tonight and Saturday at 8pm, and on Sunday at 7pm. $15, $12 for seniors, students and low-income. Reservations are recommended: 773.281.0824.
Forget the shimmying “jazz hands” you think of when you hear the words “jazz dance.” Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, whose mission is partly to create “an awareness of jazz dance as a true artistic expression of American life” know how it’s really done. They should: they’ve been around (and at home in Chicagoland) since 1962, and they’re still exploring new directions for this uniquely American movement. If the thought of over-smiling and splayed-fingered bubblegum dancing makes you queasy, and if the image of overly-serious and gazing-into-the-distance postmodern movement puts you to sleep, Giordano is directly up your alley. They’re always good for dance newbies and experts alike.
The music the company dances to is a testament to the claim that GJDC isn’t exactly what the layman might expect from a jazz dance company. They’re performing some of their repertory this weekend, which is set to music as widely varying as Japanese Kodo drums to Judy Garland. They will also be showing their new piece, "Moanin’ Low," which is set to Lena Horne, Miles Davis, and others. Jazz, yes, but not exactly “jazz hands” music.
Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park. Find more details in our Slowdown section or on GJDC’s website. Also note that they’re hosting a Young Professionals event before the show on Friday.
Chicago Dance Crash has been pushing the boundaries of the Chicago dance world since 2002. In one of their many innovative schemes, “The KTF Championship — Battle of the Belt,” they created an improv dance showdown in which CDC dancers competed for the title of KTF (“Keeper of the Floor”), complete with a forty-pound, gold-plated championship belt. The show was competitive dance meets improv comedy, right down to the audience participation. Talk about making quality dance that’s accessible to an enormous audience beyond the local dance snobbery!
They’re at it again on March 7, 8, 14, and 15 at the Viaduct Theater. One look at the rock-concert-poster-esque intro page for CDC’s website will give you a flavor of what’s on tap at “The Standing Room,” a “rock concert for dance.” And they mean rock concert, right down to the live music, the hand stamp, the coat check, and the standing-room-only. Honestly, I’m still not sure exactly what to expect, but that only attests to the originality of this idea. Will there be choreography in CDC’s ballet-capoeira-acrobatics-breakin’-hip-hop style? Will there be improv? Will the dancers be among the crowd? Can’t wait to find out!
It is no secret that Chicago has experienced a major upsurge in youth violence; recently, I sat down with Messiah Equiano, filmmaker and founder of Operation Safe Passage, to find out what he and his organization are doing to address... Read this feature »
What do Adam and Eve, out-of-control goth dolls, Etta James, multiple personalities, and Metallica have in common? Innervation Dance Cooperative has brought them all together in their upcoming dance concert, Our Own Devices. IDC's roots are in theater and contemporary dance, and the many choreographers and dancers come from wildly different backgrounds. These qualities always lead to an eclectic show, and the company's mainstays of narrative dancing and a high-energy, multi-layered aesthetic bring it all together. In this concert, each of the eight choreographers presents the audience with a different struggle and shows us what happens when groups and individuals are left to their "own devices." The subjects range from a comedic and sultry reinterpretation of Eve's relationship with the Snake, to the frustration, bliss, and heartbreak involved in pursuing a man, to a portrayal of a woman whose mind created multiple personalities to deal with childhood abuse, to goth-esque dolls running amok in the dollhouse. There are eye-opening moments of intensity and belly-shaking moments of comedy, thought-provocation and good times guaranteed. 
