Pas de Queer: Am I (Midsummer Night) Dreaming?
Guest Contributors CHICAGO — In April, my partner and I attended the Joffrey Ballet’s performance of Alexander Ekman’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. We loved it. Neither of us have seen Joffrey take on…
Guest Contributors
Dancing Empathy: New Trier’s ‘Dance Lab 2’ showcase explores human connection and understanding through choreographic exploration
WINNETKA, Ill. — These days, going to high school can be a complicated and tumultuous experience. Far beyond the age-old ups and downs of adolescence, the issues that occupy students…
From Chicago to Lima to Antananarivo: ‘Dancing Around the World’ with Nejla Yatkin
CHICAGO — World Dance Day is not merely an annual event to Chicago-based choreographer Nejla Yatkin. After growing up in Berlin with familial roots in Turkey, Yatkin has spent the…
“wood bone mill” has Bryan Saner and Matty Davis climbing trees in Saner’s backyard
CHICAGO — As I’ve lately been on something of a hiatus from writing previews or reviews of dance, in order to finish writing a book that includes it as a…
Belle dances with fairy tale friends in Milwaukee Ballet’s new story ballet: ‘Beauty and the Beast’
MILWAUKEE, WI — Milwaukee Ballet is a company that whole-heartedly embraces the story ballet genre. Its latest narrative creation, Beauty and the Beast, will premiere tonight at the Marcus Center…
Making Visible: An interview with Okwui Okpokwasili
NEW YORK / CHICAGO — I saw Okwui Okpokwasili’s piece Poor People’s TV Room when it premiered at New York Lives Arts last spring and was struck by its richly…
In/Motion Festival elevates dance, on and off screen
CHICAGO — A line of men struggled to shift along the walls of a cell, backs turned and elbows struggling to fit in and out of the spaces between the…
A tidy dance concert by Cattywampus Dance does not live up to its name
CHICAGO — It’s been a while since I’ve seen a dance concert. Truthfully, I can’t remember the last time I saw a single company perform eight different pieces in an…
Same Planet Performance Project’s curious ‘Lie Through My Skin’ boasts excellent dancing in an excellent space
CHICAGO — Dancers, choreographers, and performance makers: Did you know that Joanna Read’s studio, Dovetail Studios (on the north side), transforms into a large, crisp, black box performance space complete…
Book Review: Clare Croft’s ‘Queer Dance’ is a deep dive of queer theory in the dance world
How do I even go about condensing Clare Croft’s “Queer Dance” into a review that you can read on your half hour lunch? This collection of artistic and (mostly) scholarly…