The vibrancy and life of the Chicago dance community comes from the deep passion that many artists possess to share their art with the entire community of this city. The artists, companies and venues being showcasing this month certainly contribute to the expansion of awareness about dance to the larger community, and do so with innovation and excellence. The Dance COLEctive, Molly Shannahan/Mad Shak and the Joel Hall Dance Center all have different approaches to this same idea of furthering the access to dance in Chicago. Take a look at what they are up to in the month of May!
In the past 14 years, The Dance COLEctive ( TDC ) has contributed to the support of 17 choreographers, 47 dancers and 54 collaborating artists, many of them Illinois artists. The company continues this support with COLEctive Notions, a concert featuring the work of some of the company members of TDC, allowing new voices to be heard in the dance community. The choreographers are mentored by TDC Artistic Director Margi Cole, who comments on this mentorship process, "I have the opportunity to rehearse with these dancers and reap the benefits of their contributions to my own work on a regular basis. Now they have the opportunity to have the same exchange with each other and a little guidance from me. All they have to do is make the work and the company takes care of the rest of the concert production, allowing them to focus just on developing their work. It is my great pleasure to support them in this way."
The pieces being presented by five of the women in TDC make up a diverse range of topics. Maggie Koller explores the concept of "money" in The Fabric ( working title ) , featuring recorded and live improvised music by AM Brother. Mon Confort has Donnette Cannonie exploring the notion that, despite the fact that we all deal with loss, insecurity and vulnerability, none of us is actually alone. Jessica Post is using two paintings by the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky as a starting point for her trio Harmonies. In Instrumental, Olivia May is creating movement from the interplay between the movement of dancers and the "choreography" a sound score imposes on musicians and their instruments. Molly Grimm-Leasure comments on the starting ideas for Forgiving My Secrets, "we've all done something in our lives that we're not proud of, but do these actions truly define whether or not we are bad people? No matter the answer, how do we forgive ourselves in the end?" Also on the bill is a work by Cole from January, Taking Hold.
The DanceCOLEctive presents COLEctive Notions will take place at Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield, 2nd floor. 8 p.m. May 21-22, 7 p.m. May 23; $18, $14 students. To purchase tickets visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/102739. For more information, call 773-281-0824 or visit www.dancecolective.com .
The Joel Hall Dance Center ( JHDC ) is a place where the community can come together and experience dance. Founded in 1976, the center currently offers over 150 classes a week for both adults and children, from beginner to profession, in an array of disciplines. Just offering a wide variety of classes is not enough for this center. Part of the JHDC mission is to "Reach out to the community, targeting those who would not otherwise be exposed to the arts by providing performances, classes both with in-school outreach and after-school dance programs along with local, national, and international performances," according to the company's website, www.JoelHall.org . The programs offered at JHDC support this mission to provide arts access to all, regardless of level, age or income.
One such program is The JHDC Dance Stimulus Program, which allows those currently without income to continue to be involved in dancing. This two part program offers adults Unemployed Workers In Transition, which discounts the single class rate to $8, and families the Unemployed Families in Transition, which gives participants 25 percent off the normal class term. This is a great program that makes a conscious effort to provide dance to the community.
Joel Hall Dance Center is at 5965 N. Clark. Classes are offered at various times seven days a week. Call 773-293-0900 or visit www.joelhall.org/classes.html .
Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak "supports innovation and collaboration though the development and presentation of dance performances and other programs that engage the public in a deeper understanding and appreciation of the creative process," according to Madshak.com . This company will soon further the presentation and engagement of dance to the public through a performance at Epiphany church, one of the up and coming "non-traditional" dance venues popping up in Chicago. Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak will present two weekends of two separate works— the solo My Name Is A Blackbird and the ensemble piece Stamina Of Curiosity.
Shanahan describes Blackbird as a negotiation between knowing and not-knowing, planning and spontaneity, curiosity and control. The hour-long solo performance is live composed to the backdrop of original music by three composers, including songwriter Andrew Bird. Shanahan's process for Blackbird involved collaboration with seven Chicago-based artists including composers Bird, Mark Booth and Dave Pavkovic , whose scores for Blackbird were supported by Meet the Composer's Commissioning Music/USA program. Shanahan provided the composers with identical handmade boxes filled with associative objects, images, video, text and a scent to serve as a common basis of inspiration for the three distinct original compositions that come together for the piece.
Stamina of Curiosity is not the title of a single dance but a frame for extended movement research in both solo and ensemble work. Stemming from the discoveries of Blackbird, Shanahan explores live composition with an ensemble as well as the relationship between observers and the observed. Shanaham asks these questions in the continuing process of developing the work, How can I/we become ever more attuned to the shifts that occur in us when being observed? How can performance inspire an awareness that the potency of both artist and audience goes beyond appearance and cannot be captured by a reductive vocabulary?
Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak presents Blackbird/Stamina at Epiphany Church, 201 S. Ashland. Program A ( Blackbird ) is May 13-16 at 6 p.m; Program B ( Stamina ) is May 20-23 at 6 p.m. The cost is $50/$35 students for both programs or $30/$20. For more information, call 773-425-2506 or visit www.madshak.com .
