He's A Tiny Dancer, A Chairman For Joffrey, Do What You Want Him To Do

By Michele Lenni in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 17, 2011 7:20PM

Illustration by Michele Lenni / Chicagoist

Mayor Emanuel, affectionately known as the "tiny dancer," has been named a honorary chairman of the Joffrey Ballet Board of Directors. Joffrey's Executive committee gave Emanuel, a former classically trained dancer, the title after a unanimous vote. It's hard for us to imagine, but Emanuel spent a great deal of his younger years studying ballet and was even offered a scholarship to study the art of dance at Sarah Lawrence College. We would have loved to be a fly on the wall when he missed a grand jeté. Just imagine the expletives to escape his lips when that happened.

With his background in dance, what's not a surprise is our mayor's vocal proponency of Chicago's visual and preforming arts. His goal is to elevate our humble city's arts scene to even higher international recognition. Let's just cross our fingers and hope that one day he puts on his ballet slippers and bourrées his way to the stage for a dance off with frequent critic Steve Rhodes.