Author: Patrick Curran

ArtsSpring 2024

Chicago Flyover is an Amazing Navy Pier Experience You Won’t Want to Pass On

Just imagine soaring over Chicago’s stunning skyline, from the heights of the sprawling skyscrapers above Michigan Avenue down through the streets of the city’s expansive neighborhoods. Imagine being able to scale the city’s enormous footprint and at once zoom down through the open doors of one of it’s most iconic venues, zipping in and out of corridors and walkways, spying a concert performance at stage level just before dashing up to the balcony and out the doors again, skimming across Lake Michigan just inches from its surface. This kind of first-person, birds-eye-view of Chicago has never before been possible, at least for those of us without wings.

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ArtsAutumn 2022Travel

Travel & Culture: Exploring Door County

Amidst an uncharacteristically frosty Chicago fall, and a bustling holiday cultural calendar that proffers more familiar fair than not, one might be forgiven if the mind wanders to less acquainted shores. In fact, a brief getaway is often the answer to what ails this time of year. But who wants the kind of anguish holiday season air travel can inflict? And, truthfully, a staycation simply defeats the purpose. For harried Chicagoans looking for a quick restorative escape, a fresh dose of culture, cuisine and amiable hospitality rests comfortably a short drive north of the Illinois border. It’s scenic, placid and secluded—just enough to be recuperative. It’s a community inspired with artistry and ingenuity, and it’s a haven for foodies across the strata of culinary appreciation. It’s Door County, Wisconsin, and it just may be the ticket you need this fall.

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DanceSummer 2022

Giordano Dance Raises more than $125,000 at 2022 Legacy Ball Gala

Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) hosted its annual Giordano Legacy Ball gala at the Ravenswood Event Center, 4021 N. Ravenswood, Thursday, June 2, 7-11 p.m. The evening provided attendees the chance to enjoy pop-up performances by the GDC dancers and Hiplet Ballerinas, plus eat, drink and dance the night away surrounded by vintage cars, neon signs, and music spun by world-renowned DJ Madrid Perry.  

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BalletDanceSummer 2022

Joffrey Ballet’s free family-friendly “Rita Finds a Home” tours the city.

The Joffrey Ballet will present the world premiere of Rita Finds Home, a family-friendly program and collaborative project between the Joffrey and Miami City Ballet, which will make its debut at the Navy Pier Lake Stage, July 9–10, 2022. Rita Finds Home is conceived by a nationally recognized, women-led creative team including Amy Hall Garner, a featured choreographer of the Joffrey’s Winning Works Choreographic Competition in 2011; Karla Estela Rivera, the Chicago-based author and executive director of Free Street Theater (West Town); as well as award-winning children’s book author Elisa Chavarri, and will be danced by the Joffrey Studio Company and Academy Trainees of the Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet.

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