By Kaitlyn Dessoffy on September 22, 2017
A few months ago, something cool happened in ballet class. TEACHER: “After the pirouette, ladies: tombé, pas de bourree, glissade, jeté. Men: tombé pas de bourre, [crazy jump looks like a pas de chat caught in the spin cycle of a washing machine]. Got it?” Teacher looks around room, scrunches up face, inhales “Well…actually, if […]
By Michael Workman on September 15, 2017
Movement Matters is a monthly column by Michael Workman that investigates performers whose work intersects politics, policy, and issues related to the body as the locus of socio-cultural dialogues on race, gender, ability and more. For this installment, we sit down with visual, performance and movement artist Jose Santiago Perez to discuss absence as an […]
By Lauren Warnecke on September 14, 2017
It was maybe 2011 when I reconsidered the name Art Intercepts. My thought process went something like: There’s no “dance” in the name. I obviously have nothing to do with the Cartesian Coordinate System. Everyone gets it wrong and types Arts Intercept instead of Art Intercepts, or uses AI, which makes me think of artificial […]
By Rachel Hellwig on September 5, 2017
MADISON, WI — Wisconsin’s Madison Ballet will usher in the 2017-2018 season with a variety of mixed-repertory performances and its annual production of The Nutcracker – a lineup of programming that follows in the vein of last season. Founded in 1981, the company has been under the artistic direction of W. Earle Smith since 1999. The […]
By Kaitlyn Dessoffy on August 20, 2017
Editor‘s Note: I’m so delighted to introduce Kaitlyn Dessoffy as a contributor to Art Intercepts, writing a new column called “Pas de Queer”. Kaitlyn will be sharing their personal experiences as a musical theater major turned dancer/choreographer in Chicago, in addition to delving into topics surrounding gender and sexuality in concert dance. Enjoy! The “type” question […]
By Michael Workman on August 16, 2017
Movement Matters is a monthly column by Michael Workman that investigates performers whose work intersects politics, policy, and issues related to the body as the locus of socio-cultural dialogues on race, gender, ability and more. For this installment, we sit down with dancer, performance artist and vocalist ALEXA GRÆ (a.k.a. Alex Edgemon) to discuss the […]
By Michael Workman on July 15, 2017
Movement Matters is a monthly column by Michael Workman that investigates performers whose work intersects politics, policy, and issues related to the body as the locus of socio-cultural dialogues on race, gender, ability and more. For this installment, we sit down with visual, performance and movement artist Kiam Marcelo Junio to discuss the influence of […]
By Lauren Warnecke on June 19, 2017
During a five week study abroad program in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago and University College Dublin, during the summer of 2015, I had the pleasure of working with two undergraduate students on a qualitative research project related to sports psychology and dance. What we found were more similarities than differences, and […]
By Michael Workman on June 15, 2017
Movement Matters is a monthly column by Michael Workman that investigates performers whose work intersects politics, policy, and issues related to the body as the locus of socio-cultural dialogues on race, gender, ability and more. For this installment, we sit down with dance artist Joshua Ishmon to discuss his roots in West African Funga dance […]
By Lauren Warnecke on June 9, 2017
KANSAS CTY, MO — Kansas City New Dance Partners is an initiative launched in 2013 at Johnson County Community College (JCCC), located in the sprawling suburbs on the Kansas side of the two cities who share the same name. The goal of New Dance Partners is to elevate the local dance scene and bring it to […]
By Rachel Hellwig on May 30, 2017
“Who’s the fairest of them all?” MILWAUKEE, WI — Jealousy, vanity, the quest for attractiveness – common enough. But what happens when these things become all consuming? That’s the slippery slope that Michael Pink’s Mirror Mirror explores in his reimagining of Snow White which Milwaukee Ballet will perform from June 1-4 at the Marcus Center. Premiered […]
By Michael Workman on May 15, 2017
Movement Matters is a monthly column by Michael Workman that investigates performers whose work intersects politics, policy, and issues related to the body as the locus of socio-cultural dialogues on race, gender, ability and more. For this installment, we sit down with dancer Kia Smith to discuss the influences of jazz in movement, how generosity and […]
By Michael Workman on April 28, 2017
CHICAGO — Few dancers in Chicago have broken out as distinctly as Anna Martine Whitehead did in her LinkUP residency-ending performance at Links Hall March 3-5, alongside an opening performance by Chicago mainstay Mitsu Salmon. It was a fitting end to Links Hall’s long-running LinkUP program – a truly punctuated, unforgettable send-off. Fearlessly squaring against […]
By Lauren Warnecke on March 3, 2017
CHICAGO — Working as an arts presenter is a hard job, and though I don’t know for certain, I would imagine that working for the City of Chicago is also hard. As Director of Performing Arts for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Shoshona Currier is doing both: administering city-funded performance-based programming, and […]
By Lauren Warnecke on February 28, 2017
CHICAGO — Through March 25, Instituto Cervantes’ Chicago Flamenco Festival showcases the breadth and depth of Flamenco. The five-week fest includes music and dance performances at a gaggle of venues around the city, with the kick-off event taking place last week at a chic west loop spot, City Winery. Opening night shined a lens on an […]
By Lauren Warnecke on February 26, 2017
CHICAGO — A one-nighter last Saturday marked the second of NYC-based Brian Brooks’ Chicago engagements during his tenure as the inaugural choreographer in residence at the Harris Theater, and his second collaboration with retired New York City Ballet super star Wendy Whelan. Whelan and Brooks each had their own solos to diversify the night’s gaggle of […]
By Lauren Warnecke on February 18, 2017
CHICAGO — Beginning in 2013, Benjamin Wardell dreamed up a process called “The Nexus Project.” He recruited dancers Michel Rodriguez Cintra and worked with a gaggle of choreographers, who developed duets for them, only to have those duets deconstructed and put back together again in a semi-improvised, never-the-same-way-twice series of intimate performances. It worked. The two […]
By Lauren Warnecke on February 14, 2017
MILWAUKEE, WI — Every other year, Milwaukee Ballet’s artistic director Michael Pink sifts through a pile of applications one-by-one to select three choreographers. Some are up-and-coming, some pretty established. Pink wants a clear idea and the potential for a great piece. The only other requirement: be affiliated with a professional company. Choreographers from all over […]
By Lauren Warnecke on December 1, 2016
CHICAGO – “Time goes by quickly,” said Kevin Iega Jeff reflecting his tenure as Artistic Director of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, “but we figure it out as we go along.” “Figuring it out” hasn’t been easy, but Jeff and co-founder Gary Abbott have remained hyper-focused and vigilant toward the company’s mission to diversify concert dance by […]
By Lauren Warnecke on November 8, 2016
CHICAGO – Aerial Dance Chicago (ADC)’s loft space off the Irving Park blue line provided an intimate and appropriate setting for Ghost Stories, the company’s fall concert held Halloween weekend and dedicated to all things spooky. Each dance alluded to the battle between good and evil, light and dark, heaven and earth (and perhaps what lies beneath […]
