Chicago Dancing Festival 101
By Michelle Meywes Kopeny in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 19, 2014 6:00PM
Hubbard Street Dance performing Falling Angels. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.
The eighth annual Chicago Dancing Festival kicks off tomorrow night, and this year's edition has some exciting firsts with three CDF-commissioned world premieres—the most the festival has ever commissioned—and their first time simulcasting a performance to the giant screen at Pritzker Pavilion. It could also be their biggest audience yet. A recent article in Crain's Chicago Business makes the case for Chicago becoming a destination for dance citing, among other things, an increase from 8,500 in the first year to 11,000 people cramming into the Pritzker Pavilion lawn for the fest’s Grand Finale performance.
The Chicago Dancing Festival is a unique three-day event that showscases local companies and talent, while also bringing in outside companies local audiences might not otherwise get to experience. And as we’ve mentioned before, every one of these performances are free to the public (though some indoor events do require tickets based on capacity).
Since there is so much to see, and so many places to see it, we've decided to break the festival down in an easy company-by-company guide. We start our lesson with the local talent that Chicago has in it’s own backyard.
For full performance schedules and more information, visit the CDF website.
The legendary Lou Conte opened the doors in 1974 and it’s been unstoppable ever since. Now consisting of two companies, a training studio and education and community programs, Hubbard Street Dance is a leader in contemporary dance performance and education. They also nurture future choreographers with the Inside/Out Workshop. The opening night “Classics and Creations” program at the Harris on Wednesday will feature Hubbard Street dancers in the world premiere of Counterpoint, a CDF commissioned work by Kyle Abraham. At the “Celebration of Dance” Grand Finale on Saturday at Pritzker Pavilion, Hubbard Street will also perform Jiří Kylián’s Falling Angels from their all-Kylián program in the spring dedicated to the Czech choreographer.
They’re called “America’s premiere ballet company” but these days they’re pushing the envelope with more modern works while preserving that classic ballet aesthetic. Since taking over as Artistic Director in 2007, Ashley Wheater has brought fresh talent to the Joffrey repertoire with works from renowned choreographers like CDF co-founder Lar Lubovitch. In a regular season, you'll see a classic works alongside new contemporary programs, or a mix of the two like this season’s opener, Christopher Wheeldon’s version of Swan Lake. The Joffrey will perform an excerpt from Bells by Yuri Possokhov on opening night and at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Friday, and Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs at the Grand Finale on Saturday.
Ron De Jesus
A star dancer with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for 17 years, Ron De Jesus eventually opened his own company with the goal of training and educating new dancers, essentially paying it forward. Now a leading Chicago company with 8 dancers, the company pushes the boundaries of different dance styles from contemporary to avant garde. “Dances for 2” will feature a new duet from De Jesus commissioned by CDF called Transition Zone on Friday at the MCA.
A local organization founded by Chicago’s former first lady, Maggie Daley, After School Matters offers local high school students after-school programs in science, sports, tech, and yes even dance. This year, ASM students had the honor of working with New York-based choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie on one of the festival’s new commissioned works. We’re betting they were pretty pumped to hear that Moultrie had collaborated with pop stars like Beyonce. ASM will perform the new piece at the Grand Finale on Saturday.
Visiting Companies:
Juilliard hardly needs an introduction with alums like Kevin Spacey, Barry Manilow, Christopher Reeve, and comedian-actor Robin Williams who passed away just last week. The school, located in the heart of New York City, specializes in drama, music as well as dance. Students from the school will be performing The Jig is Up by Eliot Feld at both the opening night and the Grand Finale. Former student Adam Barruch will also be performing his new duet Belladonna with Chelsea Bonosky at the MCA on Friday. The piece is loosely based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story Rappaccini’s Daughter.
Martha Graham
The name Martha Graham is synonymous with dance. With choreography that experimented with body movement and using it as an expressive instrument, many of her works tackled social, political and even sexual themes--and this was back in the 1920s when she originally opened her studio. Her New York City school and company continues this bold philosophy to this day. They’ll be performing Graham’s own Errand into the Maze at Pritzker on opening night as well as at the MCA on Friday.
Founded by New York City Ballet principal dancer Daniel Ulbricht, this organization brings dance performance to places in the US that may not otherwise have access to the artform live. He’s joined by top dancers from other major American companies like the Boston Ballet to bring the pieces to life. They’ll be presenting Jerome Robbins’ (West Side Story) early work Fancy Free, a CDF Debut, on opening night.
Pam Tanowitz Dance has been exploring contemporary dance with several different projects since opening in New York in 2000. They’ll be making their festival debut with the duet Passagen set to live music at the MCA on Friday.
Rennie Harris Puremovement
Dr. Rennie Harris opened Puremovement in Philly in 1992, and it’s dedication that brought this hip hop company all the way to their 20th anniversary. Preserving and disseminating hip hop culture is the goal and they do it through workshops, classes, hip-hop history lecture demonstrations, long term residencies, mentoring programs and public performances. They’ll be performing Harris’ own Students of the Asphalt Jungle, another CDF debut, at the Grand Finale on Saturday.
Originally only a ballet school in our nation’s capital, The Washington Ballet became a professional company in 1976. Stars Brooklyn Mack and Maki Onuki will perform a pas de deux from Marius Petipa’s Le Corsaire at the CDF Grand Finale.