Displaying items by tag: Alexander Ekman

The Joffrey Ballet boldly closes its 2023-24 season with the return of Midsummer Night's Dream by internationally renowned Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman. Premiered by The Joffrey Ballet to North American audiences in 2018 with critical acclaim, Ekman's Midsummer Night's Dream is a mind-bending trip to a surreal realm of unearthly delights. Far from a Shakespearean tale, this fully immersive theatrical experience pays homage to the summer solstice and the Scandinavian Midsummer holiday—a time of uproarious celebration, mystery, adventure, and love. Midsummer Night's Dream is presented in 10 performances only at the historic Lyric Opera House, 20 North Upper Wacker Drive, from April 25-May 5, 2024.

"Alexander Ekman dares to be bold with Midsummer Night's Dream, creating an astonishing dance/theater performance of tremendous theatricality and scale," said The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE. "Playing to the strengths of Joffrey Company Artists to convey the evolution of our art form, woven together with the trailblazing talents of Ekman's creative team, Midsummer gifts audiences with an unforgettable experience to end our 2023-24 season."

"The Joffrey Ballet's premiere of Ekman's Midsummer Night's Dream in 2018 reverberated throughout Chicago long after the curtains closed," says Greg Cameron, President and CEO of The Joffrey Ballet. "Bringing to life our founder Robert Joffrey's vision to embrace the new and the bold, Midsummer awakens our appreciation for the arts and its power to feed energy into our lives, and the great creative spirit of Chicago."

Midsummer features a commissioned score by Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson, who has partnered with Ekman on several major works, including his popular contemporary work Tulle, which received its US premiere by The Joffrey Ballet in 2015. Swedish indie rock sensation Anna von Hausswolff will also join the Joffrey dancers on-stage to perform three songs for Ekman's Midsummer Night's Dream, live at every performance. Von Hausswolff is best known for pushing the limits of metal, experimental pop, and progressive rock.

A production in two acts with costumes by Bregje van Balen (former dancer with Nederlands Dance Theatre) and original set/lighting designs by Linus Fellbom (credited with more than 200 productions, including the world tour for Swedish rock band Refused), Midsummer Night's Dream made its world premiere with The Royal Swedish Ballet in 2015 and is widely considered Ekman's wildest and most daring production. Ekman's ode to the longest day of the year follows a traditional Midsummer festival—from a passionate, lively celebration by day to a whirlwind dream by night. Ekman's picturesque fusion of classical and contemporary ballet blurs the line between the real and the imagined, making audiences wonder, was it all just a dream?

Celebrated around the globe for his cutting-edge creativity, Ekman has collaborated with companies worldwide to create award-winning works that both entertain and challenge the observer. Midsummer Night's Dream will be the fourth work by Ekman that The Joffrey Ballet has performed; past productions include his critically acclaimed Joy (April 2017) and Tulle in 2015, along with the wild and rhythmic Episode 31.

Midsummer Night's Dream features live music performed by the Lyric Opera Orchestra, conducted by Scott Speck, Music Director of The Joffrey Ballet.

With gratitude to Midsummer Night's Dream Presenting Sponsor and Set and Costume Build Sponsor: Lynda Sue Lane M.D., Major Production Sponsors: Mary Jo and Doug Basler, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald V. Waters III, and the Women's Board of The Joffrey Ballet, and Production Sponsors: Holly Palmer Foundation, and Jeanette Stevens.

Tickets and Schedule

The Joffrey Ballet performs Midsummer Night's Dream Thursday, April 25–Sunday, May 5, 2024; the full performance schedule is as follows: Thursday, April 25 at 7:30PM; Friday, April 26 at 7:30PM; Saturday, April 27 at 2:00PM and 7:30PM; Sunday, April 28 at 2:00PM; Thursday, May 2 at 7:30PM; Friday, May 3 at 7:30PM; Saturday, May 4 at 2:00PM and 7:30PM; and Sunday, May 5 at 2:00PM.

 Single tickets start at $36 and are available for purchase at Lyric Opera Box Office located at

20 N. Upper Wacker Dr. and by telephone at 312.386.8905, or online at joffrey.org.

About The Joffrey Ballet

The Joffrey Ballet is one of the premier dance companies in the world today, with a reputation for boundary-breaking performances for more than 65 years. The Joffrey repertoire is an extensive collection of all-time classics, modern masterpieces, and original works.

Founded in 1956 by pioneers Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, the Joffrey remains dedicated to artistic expression, innovation, and first-rate education and engagement programming. The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE and President and CEO Greg Cameron.

The Joffrey Ballet is grateful for the support of its 2023–2024 Season Sponsors: Abbott Fund, Alphawood Foundation Chicago, Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation, Anne L. Kaplan, The Florian Fund, and Margot and Josef Lakonishok. 

Live Music Sponsors: Sandy and Roger Deromedi, Sage Foundation, Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, The Marina and Arnold Tatar Fund for Live Music. The Joffrey also acknowledges our Season Partners: ATHLETICO, Chicago Athletic Clubs, and Jewell Events Catering.

For more information on The Joffrey Ballet and its programs, visit joffrey.org. Connect with the Joffrey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

The Joffrey Ballet closes its 2016-2017 Season with Global Visionaries featuring works of international ballet visionaries: Russian born choreographer Yuri Possokhov with The Miraculous Mandarin, Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman with Joy, and Colombian-Belgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa with Mammatus.

The show opens with sexy, dark The Miraculous Mandarin. It’s a disturbing tale of a girl forced to act as a decoy by thugs, luring men into her room, only to be robbed and kicked out. The girl (immensely talented dancer Victoria Jaiani who moves with otherworldly grace and can possibly express just about any emotion with her body or even a subtle turn of the head) seduces men with her beauty, and then turns them over to her “friends” who finish the job. The wealthy mandarin (wonderfully performed by Yoshihisa Arai) is her last victim. He is cool and composed, like a Kung Fu master, but falls hard for the girl, and refuses to let go of her even when her deceitful nature is reveled to him. There’s nothing abstract about this performance: there’s an engaging plot, and all seven characters are extremely well developed; the brutality of the Chinese man’s murder is quite uncomfortable. Set to Bela Bartok’s score composed in 1918-1919, this “pantomime grotesque” was based on a magazine story of that time. Premiered November 27, 1926 in Cologne, Germany, it caused a scandal and was subsequently banned on moral grounds. Yuri Possokhov has created this work specifically for The Joffrey Ballet in collaboration with Cleveland Orchestra, which premiered in March 2016 in Cleveland. This is the Chicago premiere with Chicago’s own Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Joffrey Music Director Scott Speck providing live accompaniment on stage.

Here comes Joy! Alexander Ekman’s piece is original and playful, its delightful silliness reminiscent of a circus show. It opens with the stage brightly lit and slippery, crowded with dancers acting like happy children on a playground: they run and slide around, walk upside down, dance and act out while wearing suits. When prompted, everyone strips down to flesh colored underwear and things get even less serious. There’s a pack of gorgeous female ballerinas dropping their shoes on the floor in unison, like some bratty toddlers. They are childish and gracefully feminine, all at the same time. A very young audience member sitting next to me (she was around four-years-old) found the sketch very entertaining: she laughed the entire time. Joy is a ballet/ mixed media of sorts, with voice narration and the dancers having speaking parts. It’s unexpected, whimsical and energetic; a pure joy. Set to a mix of modern music featuring selections from Grammy-nominated Brad Meldau Trio, experimental rock band Django Django, Tiga’s pop hit Shoes, and Moby.

The final part of the event, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa‘s Mammatus, is a stimulating twenty-minute abstract piece featuring twenty dancers in a series of ensembles and duets. Right away, there’s a thunder on the stage, then the music begins ("Weather One" by composer Michael Gordon). The music is sharp and urgent, the frantic forceful strings giving it that old world quality. The costumes (designed by Dieuweke Van Reij) are stylishly black, enveloping dancers’ hands and making them look animal or bird-like. The dancers’ movements are precise and fast, there isn’t much emotion here, just breathtaking fluidity of ever changing shapes and positions. Towards the end, a dance pair clad in all white comes in; their dance is sensual and full of grace. Is it possible that the contrast between the colors and the styles of dancers allude to the duality of our reality: the good and evil, the light and darkness, the emotion and thought?

Joffrey’s Global Visionaries is being performed at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University: April 26-May 7, 2017. For more show information, or to purchase tickets, click here.