A lighthearted ballet full of bravery, fantasy and love. TICKETS START AT DON $35 QUIXOTE APRIL 22–MAY 3 | JOFFREY.ORG | 312.386.8905 GROUPS OF 10+ CALL 312.386.8937 PRESENTING SPONSORS MAJOR SPONSOR SPONSORS 2019–2020 SEASON SPONSORS PERFORMS AT: Margot and Lorna Ferguson THE Josef Lakonishok and Terry Clark FLORIAN FUND 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr. Chicago, IL Joffrey Company Artists Edson Barbosa and Yuka Iwai. Photo by Cheryl Mann. WELCOME TO CHICAGO DANCE MONTH! Dear Dance Fans, Happy April, everyone! All of us at See Chicago Dance love the month of April because it’s our annual opportunity to shine a spotlight on Chicago’s amazing, diverse, and wildly talented dance community. Now in its eighth year, Chicago Dance Month is a treasure trove of more than 50 great dance events, including breathtaking performances, many offered with “Hot Deal” ticket discounts, as well as workshops, classes, and numerous free events. With the smell of spring in the air, April is the perfect time to explore the rich variety of styles and creative partnerships at work in nearly every Chicago neighborhood, making our city one of the nation’s most exciting places to experience dance. In addition to the fantastic roster of events our member organizations are producing this month, See Chicago Dance will host many events over the coming weeks, see below for a complete list. Surinder Martignetti and the See Chicago Dance staff . In 2020, we are continuing our focus on the health and well-being of our dance sector. For the second year, we’re thrilled to offer, in partnership with Chicago Dancers United, the Spring Health Fair on Monday, May 18. Featuring an array of health care professionals and wellness organizations, we will provide 50 dance artists with physical and mental health screenings, nutritional assessments, and local referrals completely free of charge. See Chicago Dance believes in the transformative power of dance, and we hope you share in our vision for the future of our dance community and our city as a dance leader. We also hope you enjoy all the great content in this brochure and on our expert website. Most of all, we hope you go see and experience dance this April…and beyond! Surinder Martignetti Interim Executive Director, See Chicago Dance Chicago Dance Month 2020 Events These events presented by See Chicago Dance are free and open to the public Running time for each event is approx. 60-90 minutes. Schedule subject to change. Kickoff Celebration Open Studio Tuesdays Monday, March 30, 4:30pm Every Tuesday, March 31-April 28, Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago 4:30pm Chicago Cultural Center, Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington 1st Floor Dance Studio Participating Artists: Go behind the scenes with a variety MOMENTA, Bellydance by Phaedra, of Chicago dance companies each Ensemble Español Spanish Dance working in the studio in a mini Theater, Red Clay Dance Company, residency for one week. Meet the and M.A.D.D Rhythms. artists, see fresh choreography, and even learn a few moves! Celebration and Scavenger Hunt Tuesday March 31, Ishti Dance Collective Monday, May 4, 4:30-6pm + Winifred Haun & Dancers A progressive event in Tuesday April 7, Emma Draves + Concept Dances Maggie Daley Park featuring site-specific performances by Noumenon Dance Ensemble, Tuesday April 14, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Yin He Dance, Dancing Petals, + Project Bound Dance Movement Revolution Dance Crew, Perceptual Motion, Tuesday April 21, RE | Dance + Simantikos Dance Chicago Culture Shock Chicago, Trifecta Dance Collective, LOUD BODIES, and Gauri Jog Indian Dance School. For more information on each event, visit seechicagodance.com/chicagodancemonth SEECHICAGODANCE.COM 3 FEATURED EVENT M.A.D.D. Rhythms: Tap Jams Tap Jams are our way of paying homage to the hoofers of old and the traditions they set. A Tap Jam is a gathering of tapdancers who come together and just jam. Tapdancers form a cypher/circle and take turns “shedding” to the music and/or to the beat established by the other tapdancers. The “Hoofers,” or original tapdancers, would dance all day and all night in the streets of Harlem. When it got dark, they would jam or trade under the streetlights. This is how tap was born. From Master Juba to Chuck Green, hoofers would create, practice, and perfect this artform… outside! In those times, the United States still had a long way to go when it came to the treatment of black people. Many dance schools didn’t allow African Americans, so the streets became our studios, and the dance became our resistance and perseverance at the same time. Tap Jams make us better. Tap Jams give us new ideas. Tapdance was built on a premise of stealing. Hoofers would come up with steps, share them in the circle, then other tapdancers would immediately start stealing them. There was one catch: “Thou shalt steal, but thou shalt not steal…exactly.” Stealing was allowed, but only if you tweaked the steps by adding something of your own. Tap Jams help us communicate. Tap Jams allow us to express ourselves. Improvisation is the key to everything. Every emotion can be expressed through tap, and the jams provide the space to work through those emotions. We have had toddlers at the Tap Jams who can barely talk but have no problems communicating with their feet. Tap Jams are absolutely necessary to nudge your growth as a tapdancer. New ideas equal new approaches, and new approaches equal growth. Every tapdancer should be able to hold their own in the cypher/circle, and the constant jamming enables that growth process. M.A.D.D. Rhythms is the only organization in Chicago keeping this time-honored Tap Jam tradition alive. We have been producing Tap Jams for almost 20 years, and we don’t plan on stopping! Dr. Buster Brown had Swing 46, Dr. Jimmy Slyde had La Cave, and Dave Mann had Showman’s. We jam to honor those tapdancers, those Tap Jams, and the spirit of unity and community. We have celebrated birthdays, graduations, promotions, and almost every holiday with a Tap Jam. M.A.D.D. Rhythms presents Tap Jams April 10 and 19 and May 8 and 17 at the Harold Washington Cultural Center. Visit maddrhythms.com. FEATURED EVENT Alluvion Dance Chicago: Neon “Neon” is Alluvion Dance Chicago’s (ADC’s) second repertoire show in its sixth season. Emphasizing empowerment, crafting through prompt, and uniting under the umbrella of “neon,” the performance will engulf the dynamics of the power and glow of a neon light. Neon comes from the Greek word quite literally meaning “something new.” This year, ADC paired up company members to create new works, in addition to premiering works by ADC Executive Artistic Director Johnny Huntoon- Starcher, ADC Company A Associate Artistic Director Julia Kummerow, ADC Company B Associate Artistic Director Alyssa Calvano, ADC Rehearsal Director Morgan Cutler, and guest choreographers Jessica Miller Tomlinson and Tessa Ritchey. ADC’s primary goal is to craft producers by pushing dancers to evolve their choreographic lens through collaboration, prompts, and trial and error. “Neon” will offer a fully absorbing evening of varied works under the umbrella of one unified concept, featuring a range of styles, such as jazz, contemporary, and modern dance. One work on the program interprets neon as bursts of eclectic and vibrant colors that break into a tense and rigid quality, while another views neon as individuals understanding and evolving their personalities with age. ADC is committed to offering choreographic opportunities to its dancers by including repertoire they have choreographed in its performances. Additionally, the company hosts and offers these opportunities to up-and- coming choreographers from throughout the United States at Emergence, an annual summer dance festival. Alluvion Dance Chicago performs “Neon” April 3 and 4 at the Edge Theatre. Visit adcneon.eventbrite.com. SEECHICAGODANCE.COM 5 FEATURED EVENT Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble: What We Carried What We Carried kicks off Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble’s 20th season and serves as the fourth and fi nal installment of its current season, ART + ACTIVISM. What We Carried serves as an immersive exhibit of artist Jean Parisi’s work brought to life by the Ensemble. This documentary-style danztheatre work brings together a collection of stories from families and individuals throughout the Chicago area covering 50 years of Chicago history. This new work highlights the struggles and successes of waves of asylum seekers and immigrants from across the globe, all of whom now call Chicago home. The performance also addresses the unjust and unethical separation of families at the U.S. border and the idea that no human can be illegal. “While we, the Ensemble, may not ourselves be immigrants, our families and our ancestors were, and we bring our stories to this work as well as honor our families and the events we sought asylum from in our own paths,” said Interim Artistic Director Maggie Robinson. Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble performs What We Carried May 8–16 at Ebenezer Lutheran Church Auditorium. Visit brownpapertickets. com/event/4306706 or danztheatre.org. 6 SEECHICAGODANCE.COM = get discounts on SeeChicagoDance.com CHICAGO DANCE MONTH EVENTS March 19–22 March 22 March 29 American Ballet Theatre Dance Jam Adult Jazz Workshop Auditorium Theatre Rhythm of the Street Dance Studio Rhythm of the Street Dance Studio Thursday & Friday 7:30pm, Sunday 2pm, FREE Sunday 2pm, $18 Saturday 2pm & 7:30pm, Sunday 2pm, $50–130 March 25–May 27 March 29 Community Tap Class Spring Open Rehearsal March 19–29 Tapman Productions Winifred Haun & Dancers The Farewell Fables: satellites, songs Wednesdays 1pm, FREE (Donations Hubbard Street Dance Center and cereal Accepted) Sunday 4pm, FREE Links Hall Thursday–Sunday 7pm, $15–25 March 27 March 29 DanceChance DanceFlight March 20 DanceWorks Chicago DanceWorks Chicago Adult Ballet Workshop Lou Conte Dance Studio Ruth Page Center for the Arts Rhythm of Street Dance Studio Friday 7pm, $3 Sunday 5pm, $20–25 Friday 5:30pm, $18 March 27 & 28 March 20 & 21 La Sylphide NINE Salt Creek Ballet Praize Productions, Inc.