Friday, February 04, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Dance Chicago Choreography Awards
Dance Chicago, in conjunction with the Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation, gave awards to several choreographers this year–including the Choreographer of the Year, Sam Cortez (Mexican Dance Ensemble). Mr. Cortez was selected based on the volume and depth of the seven distinctive works he created.
In addition to the Choreographer of the Year award, otheres were selected to receive the Dance Chicago Outstanding Choreographer (Body of Work) Award for their significant contributions to the 2010 festival, they are:
Billy Siegenfeld (Jump Rhythm Jazz Project)
Chris Courtney (Culture Shock Chicago, Chicago Dance Crash)
There were also awards for Outstanding Choreography (New Voice):
Melinda Wilson (Curie Metropolitan High School for the Performing & Technical Arts)
Jessica Deahr (Chicago Dance Crash, Independent Dancers)
And finally, The Dance Chicago Outstanding Choreography Award (Team Choreography) was awarded to:
Trae Turner, Angelina Grima, Susan Skrzymowski (BOOM CRACK! Dance Company)
Congratulations to all of the participants and winners this year!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Chicago Tribune about dance chicago 2010
The virtue of Dance Chicago is not so much that it offers something for everyone, but seems, in its wide swathe, to feature something just about by everyone.
This bedrock, rag-tag and inconsistent festival is always a far-reaching potpourri showing off diverse elements from our varied community. Every style and mode get a nod, from quirky experimentalists to flashy ballroom acrobats.
Credit artistic director John Schmitz, whose penchant for modern dance never stopped him from including ballroom pizzazz in the mix years before the trend reignited on television. Schmitz puts together participants as if concocting a global menu, tossing in the well-established, the up-and-maybe-coming, the aging pro, aspiring students, hip hop and folk dance.
Wednesday's opening at Stage 773 included Billy Siegenfeld and his Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, often stars of festivals past, back with his 2010 "Why Gerswhin?" It's an intriguing, zany play-let harkening back to the novelty and rhytmic vocals of his earliest pieces, this one taming a man's man (Siegenfeld) steeped in James Brown, seduced by his lady and a chorus of Gershwin-crazed loonies. Rising choreographer Autumn Eckman displays an affinity for the same pop elements in her "A Little Moonlight," an entertaining, deliciously crafted mix of jazz and soft ballet, danced Wednesday by Giordano II's Brianna Pazos and Devin Buchanan, a specialist at sparkly leaps.
Eckman premiered a promising but flawed work with NoMi LaMad Dance Inc., "Mirrors Are Dangerous," edgy in style though not always compelling in dramatic evolution. Outside, the Renegade Dance Architects entertained on the sidewalk before the concert, while likable contemporary works by Eddy Ocampo and Wilfredo Rivera played on the same stage with a Gothic anti-romance from the talented students of Curie Metro High School; salsa ballroom fireworks from the daredevil team of Brandon and Serena; gymnastic romp and elasticity from AMEBA; and a festive, foot-stomping finale from the Mexican Dance Ensemble.
Upcoming events include samples of ballroom, jazz and hip hop in Jazz Cabarets Saturday and Nov. 14; New Moves programs of young dancers and choreographers Thursday and Nov. 18; urban movement performers and troupes Nov. 19; various performance innovators and newcomers in a Nov. 20 Dance Carnival; and showcases of new work Nov. 21.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)