The Cronus Land Seduces the Senses (review)
Lauren Warnecke Are dances made for artists or audiences? Yes. There is a delicate balance between art for art’s sake and pure entertainment. On the one hand, we need audiences in order…
Lauren Warnecke
Joffrey’s ‘Sylvia’ breaks from tradition, just like it used to
Following a highly successful pre-season weekend last month featuring up-and-coming choreographers, the official opening night of the Joffrey Ballet’s 60th anniversary season threw many of ballet’s conventions out the window.…
Frank Chaves’ Swan Song
Even on the heels of a highly successful 25th anniversary season, the announcement of Frank Chaves’ retirement as Artistic Director of River North Dance Chicago (RNDC) was not wholly unexpected.…
Gu Jiani’s ‘Right & Left’ Challenges Assumptions (review)
Joseph Lam, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (CI), climbed a short set of stairs from the house of the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater…
At the Harvest Fest, Less is More
The 6th installment of the Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival (HCCDF) is trying a new format, with two programs rather than three, spread out over two weekends. The result is…
Chicago Dancing Festival Celebrates ‘Modern Women’
The Chicago Dancing Festival‘s annual engagement at the Museum for Contemporary Art has explored a variety of themes throughout its nine year history, most with a focus on maximizing the…
First Ever Chicago Teen Dance Festival Tonight!
A conversation between Links Hall’s Roell Schmidt and Suzanne Connor of the Chicago Community Trust was the catalyst for the Chicago Teen Dance Festival, a new initiative mirroring the Chicago…
J. Lindsay Brown Goes for Broke in ‘Spectacle Spectacular’ (review)
MCL Chicago is a year-old space in Lakeview, great for improv comedy. It’s an intimate setting with little cafe tables interspersed throughout the audience for a BYOB beverage-of-choice, but like…
Dance Merges with Mingus in Millennium Park (review)
The inevitable end of summer has given us some perfect evenings for a picnic and a show in downtown Chicago. Indeed, the lawn at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park was…
Dance for Life 2015 is in the books
To quote Miley Cyrus, “It’s our party, we can do what we want…” …and at Dance for Life 2015, we sure did. I took a stab at playing multiple roles…