ST. LOUIS, MO — I came to this year’s Spring to Dance festival figuring the best-case scenario would be to experience nothing out of the ordinary. Dance St. Louis, the local presenting organization which has produced Spring to Dance for 11 years, had already cut the Spring to Dance line-up from three days to two, drastically trimming its programs and personnel…

ST. LOUIS, MO — The mission of Dance St. Louis, a presenting organization founded more than 50 years ago by Washington University professor of dance Annelise Mertz, is pretty simple: bring great dance to St. Louis. For the last decade, part of this effort has included a highly successful three-day festival at the Blanche M. Touhill Center for the Arts,…

Hours before the grand finale to the Chicago Dancing Festival in Millennium Park, a storm rolled through so big it nearly washed away the Pritzker Pavilion in its entirety. Ain’t no rain gonna get dance fans down.   The massive storm didn’t deter Chicagoans from flocking to one of Chicago’s quintessential end-of-summer soirees (for dance, anyway). Hard core picnickers braved the…

* Note: This post was created as a special feature in collaboration with SeeChicagoDance.com* ST. LOUIS, MO — Dance St. Louis has changed Memorial Day weekend. While most Americans stuff themselves silly with burgers, hot dogs, and beer, for thousands of St. Louisians this weekend is about world-class dance performances. The Spring to Dance Festival started as a way to promote…

Nora Sharp isn’t a typical dancer. “I grew up playing classical music intensely,” she said in an interview on Easter morning. Sharp didn’t start dancing until she was nearing the end of her tenure at Oberlin College. Being relatively new to dance and relatively new to Chicago, Sharp felt gaps in the community in trying to find positive places to train, learn,…

In homage to National Dance Day, I’ve been sifting through some of the archives here and elsewhere to get an idea of everything that’s happening dance-wise.  As a person who likes to write about dance, I find it really difficult to narrow my focus to just education, or just previews and reviews.  So I resolved to put my hands into…

Last night at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center did not suck. Though not solely responsible for the brilliant performances last night, Chicago certainly showed up and demonstrated its versatility and technical panache.  To spare readers an in-depth exposé of each piece in an evening that was (between two shows) three hours long, here are the tidbits I wrote…

ST. LOUIS, MO — When Michael Uthoff first arrived in St. Louis, MO, he was asked what he thought of the local dance scene. “I think it’s shit,” he said. Born to dancing parents who founded the Chilean National Ballet, Uthoff danced for Jose Limon and eventually found his way toward classical ballet.  Having seen success all over the country…

ST. LOUIS, MO — On my final day in St. Louis I spent a sweaty afternoon downtown and cooled off with two excellent shows at the Spring to Dance festival.  Chicago definitely shined on this last day of three, with some of our heavy hitters appearing in both shows.  I’m ashamed to admit that this was my first time seeing Lucky Plush…

ST. LOUIS, MO — Apparently the Touhill Performing Arts Center is the place to be on Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis.  I expected a pretty good line-up of mostly regional and a few national companies; what I didn’t expect is the droves of people that come out for this event.  Folks practically climb over each other, not unlike the…