Dance

Alonzo-King-LINES-Ballet
Dance 

LINES Ballet Celebrates Over 40 Years of Groundbreaking Contemporary Dance

Fred Cummings , ,

Since 1982, Alonzo King LINES Ballet has been celebrated as a ground-breaking contemporary ballet company, guided by the artistic vision of the acclaimed choreographer for which it is named. Collaborating with noted composers, musicians, writers and visual artists from across the globe, King draws on a diverse set of deeply rooted cultural traditions, imbuing classical ballet with new expressive potential. He has been heralded as a visionary and thought leader on topics that reach well beyond dance, receiving numerous accolades such as a 2020 Dance Magazine Award. The company brings new works of illuminating beauty to Bay Area audiences in bi-annual home seasons. LINES Ballet’s national and international tours allow the company to share its vision of transformative, revelatory dance through performances worldwide. LINES Ballet has demonstrated a dedication to training the next generation of artists through its pre-professional Summer Program, Training Program, Teens Program (Teens at LINES), and Bachelor of Fine Arts Program with Dominican University of California.

Read more
Joffrey-Ballet-in-The-Little-Mermaid
Ballet Dance 

Joffrey Ballet to Present John Neumeier’s Haunting Ballet, “The Little Mermaid”

Fred Cummings ,

The Joffrey Ballet closes its 67th season with the long-awaited Chicago premiere of John Neumeier’s beautifully haunting interpretation of The Little Mermaid. A gripping tableau of shadows and colors, Neumeier’s world-renowned production of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 tragic folktale follows the tormented mermaid heroine on a journey between the divergent worlds of land and sea—one utterly complex, the other magnificently serene. With sets and costumes of the grandest scale, this heartbreaking tragedy, based on Andersen’s original and complex themes, will mark the largest production ever mounted by The Joffrey Ballet. 

Read more
Joffrey-Winning-Works-Choreographer-Kameron-Saunders
Dance 

Joffrey Academy of Dance to Present New Slate of “Winning Works”

Fred Cummings ,

The Joffrey Academy of Dance, School of The Joffrey Ballet, will present four world premieres in the culmination of Joffrey’s national call for ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American) artists to submit applications for their Winning Works Choreographic Competition. This year’s Competition winners—Natasha Adorlee, Christian D’Ariano, Kameron N. Saunders, and Mike Tyus (Recipient of the Zach Lazar Winning Works Fellowship)—each have choreographed an original work created for the Joffrey Academy Trainees and Studio Company to a commissioned score by a chosen composer collaborator. An additional performance has been added to the program this year due to popular demand.

Read more
Alvin-Ailey-American-Dance-Theatre
Dance Winter 2023 

Coming Home: Alvin Ailey Returns to the Auditorum Theatre This Spring

Fred Cummings , ,

If ever there was a “cultural ambassador” Chicago could call our own, it’s the beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The world renowned and resplendently talented company of diversely gifted dancers has performed for an estimated 25 million people in 71 countries on 6 continents—as well as millions more through television broadcasts, film screenings, and online platforms—promoting the uniqueness of the African American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance tradition. 

Read more
Congo-Square-Theatre
Dance 

Congo Square to Partner with Lookingglass Theatre to Remount “What’s to Send Up When it Goes Down”

Fred Cummings ,

Congo Square Theatre Company, one of the nation’s premier African American ensemble theater companies, and Lookingglass Theatre Company announce that single tickets are now on sale for the remount of Congo Square’s production of What to Send Up When It Goes Down in residence at Lookingglass Theatre Company’s historic Water Tower Water Works theater, 821 N Michigan Ave.

Read more
Dancing-With-The-Giordano-Dance-Stars
Dance 

Giordano Dance to Host Dancing with the Giordano Dance Stars

Fred Cummings

Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) hosts its wildly popular “Dancing With The Giordano Stars” ballroom dance competition to benefit GDC’s Jazz Dance/Science & Health outreach program, company operations, and jazz dance advocacy and mentorship programs 7 -11 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6. The event will take place at Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave. This annual gala, patterned after the hit ABC series “Dancing With The Stars,” teams GDC professional dancers with partners from the who’s who of Chicago’s civic, social and business communities to vie for “Best Male Dancer” and “Best Female Dancer” honors before a panel of celebrity judges. WGN’s Anna Davlantes will emcee.

Read more
Kyiv-City-Ballet
Ballet Dance Summer 2022 

Voice of Resistance

Fred Cummings ,

One sleepy evening this past February, the full company of the Kyiv City Ballet boarded a flight out of its home city of Ukraine to embark upon a long-planned European tour. Little did anyone know at the time that it would be one of the last flights out of the country as Russia would invade its borders the very next day. That flight made its way to Paris, a city and its country that would adopt the ballet company in the wake of the Russian invasion. There and throughout Europe, the Kyiv City Ballet has performed since and now embarks upon a US tour that will bring them to the landmark Auditorium Theatre stage this fall. 

Read more