|
|
DANCIN' FEATS Looking back at 2012
by Vicki Crain 2012-12-26
|
|
This article shared 5062 times since Wed Dec 26, 2012
|
|
Chicago's dance scene had a great year. Milestone anniversaries, first-time visits from international touring companies, world-renowned guest choreographers, a very famous piece of music and world premieres from some very talented locals made 2012 downright delightful for dance lovers. Here are some standout pieces and performancesin no particular orderfrom the past 12 months.
New York-based American Ballet Theatre came to town in March with a five-performance run of the romantic ballet Giselle. The classic story of love and betrayal took over the Auditorium Theatre's stage with massive sets, large casts and even live dogs. Principal ballerina Julie Kent gave a heartbreaking performance in the lead role.
Paris Opera Ballet, the company Giselle was originally created for in 1841, also brought the ballet to Chicago this summer. An estimated 14,000 people attended a live simulcast on a giant LED screen in Millennium Park as the dancers performed inside the Harris Theater. Along with Giselle, they performed a repertory program titled Epic French Masterpieces that included a piece with one female dancer on top of a large, round table with a multitude of men surrounding her set to Ravel's Bolero.
Another world-famous troupe to hit town was Israel's Batsheva Dance Company. Chicago audiences were familiar with artistic director Ohad Naharin's work MAX via Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, but the other work on the program, also set to Bolero, beautifully showcased the dancers intuitive sense of movement and earthy technique. The show was delayed due to security issuesmetal detectors were installed in the Auditorium Theatre lobbybut this double bill was well worth the wait.
While the Chicago Dancing Festival presented many touring artists, it was Windy City citizens who stole the show. For its sixth year, festival co-founders Jay Franke and Lar Lubovitch commissioned New York-based choreographer Larry Keigwin to create a work that's uniquely Chicago. Bicycles, umbrellas, newspapers, cell phones and an appearance by Benny the Bull highlighted this collage of everyday people and movement set (again) to Bolero, proving anyone can dance, especially to this music. The piece appeared on the opening- and closing-night programs, and stole the show both times.
If Keigwin used the most props, Harrison McEldowney's Act One finale for this year's Dance For Life benefit incorporated the most creative. "Red, White and Black," a piece for 10 male dancers from various Chicago companies set to music by the pop band fun., went to new heightsliterallywith bouncing, swinging bungee cords. Five men anchored with dazzling dancing, while five flew into the air with the help of the C5 aerial/dance team.
Jessica Wolfrum of River North Dance Chicago makes the list with her strong, emotional solo "Renatus" ("Rebirth") from the troupe's fall engagement at the Harris Theater. Choreographed by Nejla Yatkin, this beautiful dance has Wolfrum in a blood-red dress with a 30-foot train that she eventually tames and sheds like a second skin. She's always a standout, but this was a breakthrough piece.
Gallim Dance traveled from New York City to The Dance Center at Columbia College to present the hour-long work Blush. Originally created by artistic director Andrea Miller in 2009, the piece starts with dancers covered in white paint that is strategically wiped off as the action ebbs and flows from masculine movement to ballet poses to human pyramids. Think Swan Lake meets The Exorcist.
Two Chicago transplants, originally from Spain, presented evening-length world premieres to rave reviews. Alejandro Cerrudo, resident choreographer for Hubbard Street, created his first-ever full-length work to open the company's 35th-anniversary season. One Thousand Pieces was inspired by Marc Chagall's America Windows, housed at the Art Institute, and used all 24 dancers. Intriguing sets using moving mirrors and water reflected Cerrudo's fast, smooth style. Luna Negra Dance Theater Artistic Director Gustavo Ramirez Sansano conceived a fresh, inventive new take on the ballet/opera Carmen with his one-night-only premiere of Carmen.maquia. All-white sets and costumes let the intricate choreography and talented dancers take center stage. Both works had strong, petite female leads: Ana Lopez (Hubbard Street) and Monica Cervantes (Luna Negra) prove good things do come in small packages.
Other local choreographers who made memorable impressions are The Seldoms Artistic Director Carrie Hanson with her smart, witty exploration of the climate change debate (which included cooking and eating pancakes on stage) in Exit Disclaimer: Science and Fiction Ahead, as well as Molly Shanahan of Mad Shak in The Delicate Hour. Both women possess a great talent for using intimate gestures and repetitive movements mixed with humor, spoken word and singing to evoke familiar emotions, while remaining poignant.
Finally, there was a revival from The Joffrey Ballet of the 1932 anti-war ballet The Green Table. Known for technically tackling classical and more contemporary works, the company showed what it can do stripped down to just a simple gesture. The powerful piece still resonates today with its message of perpetual war. Dancer Fabrice Calmels, as Death, was both an intimidating and compassionate figure. |
 |
|
 |
This article shared 5062 times since Wed Dec 26, 2012
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
| 
|  | ELECTIONS 2023: 48th Ward candidate Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth on why running, biggest differences from other challengers 2023-01-31 A lifelong Chicagoan, Leni Manaa-Hoppeworth is running to become the next 48th Ward Alderperson. She is currently a small business owner (Chicago Dance Supply, 5301 N. Clark St., for the past 20 years) in the ward ...
| 
|  | Billy Porter discusses his fashion choices, personal ambitions 2023-01-30 Billy Porter—the Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner—needs no introduction—especially to the many fans of his character Pray Tell on Ryan Murphy's hit TV series Pose. Coming up exclusively in theaters Feb. 3, Porter will star as ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, tennis items, Oscars, Queerties 2023-01-29 Famed children's entertainers The Wiggles sent parents into a frenzy when they posted a photo with out rapper Lil Nas X to their Instagram account and wrote, "New collab in the wind?," according to LGBTQ Nation. ...
| 
|  | Quigley commends progress in FDA LGBTQI+ blood donation draft guidance 2023-01-27 --From a press release - Washington, DC — Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), Vice-Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, released the following statement commending long-awaited updates to the FDA's blood donation guidance for LGBTQI+ ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ 'Planet Sex,' Critics Choice Awards, Madonna, Theo James 2023-01-22 The show Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne will debut on Hulu on Feb. 14 (Valentine's Day), Out noted. Planet Sex is a six-episode docuseries following the model/actress. "On this immersive journey, she puts her mind and ...
| 
|  | GLAAD announces nominees for 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards 2023-01-18 --From a press release. Video below - Jan. 18, 2023 - GLAAD, the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, today announced the nominees for the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ Indigo Girls, LGBTQ+ films, GALECA nods, Jeremy Pope 2023-01-15 Indigo Girls will perform at an opening-night celebration for the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 19 in Park City, Utah, Variety reported. The Grammy-winning lesbian folk-rock duo are debuting their new documentary, It's Only Life After All, ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ Best in theater, TV, film and music; Obama's favorites; 'Glass Onion' 2022-12-31 Deadline's Broadway critic revealed his picks for the best of 2022. Leopoldstadt topped his list, but other productions included Kimberly Akimbo, Some Like It Hot, Into the Woods, Hangmen, Ain't No Mo', A Strange Loop, Topdog/Underdog, ...
| 
|  | Billy Masters: All the retrospective you'll need to show 2022 the door 2022-12-26 "He doesn't like gay people. Doesn't want them in Russia. And then he's got the wonderful basketball player and he won't let her out. Make up your mind! He's always acting so butch and strutting around. You know what that ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ Janelle Monae, Harvey Guillen, Whitney Houston, 'Drag Race,' Greg Berlanti 2022-12-24 Janelle Monae has teased a new album, joking that they now has a "clone" for music who has been hard at work in the studio, NME noted. Monae—whose leading part as Helen Brand in the new Glass Onion: ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ Best and worst films, Broadway, Adam Lambert, 'Proud Family,' women's hockey 2022-12-18 IndieWire revealed its list of the best LGBTQ+ films and TV series of 2022. Just some of the selections included Benediction, Bros, Do Revenge, Fire Island, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Inspection, Los Espookys, P-Valley, ...
| 
|  | Billy Masters: Anthony Rapp becomes a dad, and all the dish to start your week 2022-12-12 "And haters, if you're watching this because I know you are—you work hard, but I work harder!" —Todrick Hall's message to critics. BTW, he's back on the air with HGTV's "Battle of the Bling" with Kim ...
| 
|  | Chicago Fire FC wins first-ever Midwest Emmy Award 2022-12-07 -- From a press release - CHICAGO (Dec. 6, 2022) — Chicago Fire FC has been awarded the Club's first ever Regional Emmy Award in the category of "Outstanding Crafts Achievement for Graphics Arts/Motion Graphics/ Art Direction/Set Design" as a part of ...
| 
|  | SHOWBIZ 'Bros,' awards, Bjork, video-game love story, 'White Lotus' 2022-12-04 The gay rom-com film Bros started streaming on Peacock on Dec. 2, Out noted. Written by Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller (and directed by the latter), Bros was produced by Judd Apatow and starred Eichner along with an all-LGBTQ+ ...
| 
|  | WORLD Japan ruling, Kenya groups, World Cup, Almodovar 2022-12-04 Video below - A district court in the Tokyo Prefecture ruled that Japan's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is legal, according to The Washington Blade. In a statement to Reuters, plaintiffs' attorney Nobuhito Sawasaki said, "This is actually a ...
| |
|
|