Displaying items by tag: contemporary

Drury Lane’s On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan opens with a confident, inviting energy that immediately sets the tone for the evening. The production draws the audience into its momentum with ease, creating a lively atmosphere without ever feeling over the top. It’s an engaging, high‑spirited musical experience, delivered with polish and warmth, and even the ushers seem subtly swept up in the show’s rhythm.

The band is cooking, the lights are vibrating with tropical confidence, and the whole room feels like it’s been lightly spritzed with Miami humidity and pure optimism. By the time the first big number lands, you’re not watching a show - you’re being drafted into a celebration.

On Your Feet! charts the rise of Gloria and Emilio Estefan with the kind of momentum that feels less like a biography and more like a rocket launch wrapped in a drumbeat. The story begins in Miami’s vibrant Cuban‑American community, where a shy, songwriting Gloria is coaxed into performing, and a young, fiercely ambitious Emilio is determined to build a sound that reflects both their heritage and their future – that sound eventually becomes Miami Sound Machine. As Miami Sound Machine starts climbing the charts, the musical follows their battles with an industry that keeps trying to box them in, their insistence on bringing Latin rhythms to mainstream pop, and the personal sacrifices required to chase a dream that refuses to stay small.

The show doesn’t shy away from the fractures beneath the glitter - family tensions, cultural expectations, and the emotional cost of pushing against every barrier in their path. And when the near‑fatal bus accident threatens to end everything they’ve built, the story shifts into something deeper: a portrait of recovery, resilience, and the stubborn, beating‑heart belief that music can pull you back into the world.

At its core, On Your Feet! is a celebration of love, grit, and the unstoppable force of a rhythm that refuses to be quiet. It’s about two people who changed the sound of American pop by insisting that their own sound mattered. And it’s about how music - loud, joyful, defiant - can move people in every sense of the word.

Gaby Albo as Gloria and Samuel Garnica as Emilio ignite this production. Their vocals, their chemistry, their sheer “we were absolutely put on this earth to do this” presence turns On Your Feet! into a two‑person supernova at the center of an already electric show.

Albo’s Gloria is a revelation. She glides from the sweetness of “Anything for You” to the soaring emotional punch of “Reach” with a voice that feels both effortless and fiercely intentional. When she launches into “Conga” or “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You,” the room practically levitates. She doesn’t just sing these songs - she detonates them.

Garnica’s Emilio is all drive, charm, and quiet fire. His rendition of “Don’t Wanna Lose You” lands with a sincerity that hushes the room, and when he steps into the rhythmic swagger of “1-2-3,” you see exactly why Emilio Estefan became a force in the music world. He plays the role with a grounded confidence that makes every scene feel lived‑in and every choice feel earned.

Together, they’re magnetic. Their scenes crackle with the kind of natural rapport that makes you believe they’ve been finishing each other’s sentences for years. Every high note lands, every emotional beat resonates, and every dance break feels like a tiny cardio miracle powered by pure joy. Their performances anchor the show - they lift it, spin it, and send it sailing straight into the audience’s heart.

The supporting cast in Drury Lane’s On Your Feet! enrich, sharpens and gives heart to the world around Gloria and Emilio.

Claudia Quesada brings a fierce, layered presence to Gloria Fajardo - Gloria’s mother, capturing both the steel and the sorrow of a woman who sacrificed her own dreams so her daughter could chase hers. She commands every scene she enters, grounding the story with emotional weight and a voice that cuts cleanly through the chaos.

As Consuelo, the grandmother who sees Gloria’s spark long before anyone else does, Ana Maria Alvarez is pure warmth. She radiates humor, tenderness, and that unmistakable abuela magic - the kind that can lift a room with a single line or a knowing smile.

Angel Hikari Salgado is a delight as Nayib and Young Emilio, slipping between characters with ease and charisma. Whether delivering a punchline or dancing with fearless enthusiasm, Salgado adds a spark that keeps the show’s energy humming.

Together, this assembly of co‑stars forms the emotional architecture of the production - funny, heartfelt, and deeply human. And the ensemble? A joyful hurricane. They flip, spin, and salsa with the kind of precision that makes you wonder if they’ve all been sharing one giant, collective heartbeat backstage.

The stripped‑down set and props open the entire stage for those big, high‑energy dance breaks. Shifts in place and time come from a series of well‑placed visual screens along the back wall, each one snapping into a new image or texture to give the scene exactly the atmosphere it needs.

Drury Lane’s production of On Your Feet! is masterfully directed and choreographed by Luis Salgado, a longtime member of the show’s creative legacy and part of the original 2015 pre‑Broadway Chicago engagement. The show’s biographical curve is handled with warmth and momentum. It never drags, never panders, and never forgets that the Estefan’s story is as much about grit as it is about glitter. Salgado leans into that balance beautifully - one minute you’re laughing, the next you’re clutching your chest, and then suddenly you’re dancing in your seat like rhythm is, in fact, going to get you.

After the opening night performance, I told Luis Salgado how much I appreciated the way he showed Gloria and Emilio’s relationship developing from genuine mutual affection, even as Gloria’s mother worried that his strong business instincts might overshadow her daughter’s already established talent. The way the production threads their now‑iconic love songs through that arc reminded me how authentic and organic their partnership and marriage truly were.

Salgado said he was glad I picked up on that, noting that Gloria and Emilio are still going strong as a couple today. He added that he’s exploring a similar dynamic in his current project about another well‑known creative partnership, and he proudly showed me a congratulatory text from Hamilton’s Lin‑Manuel Miranda - smiling at him from a snowy mountainside - that had arrived just before the show!

I appreciated how he handled the tense moment between Gloria and Emilio after the devastating tour‑bus crash. While she’s still recovering, Emilio pushes her to return to performing, and she snaps back that she had asked for just one day to rest and see her family - a request he denied - and that the crash happened on that very day.

Salgado made room for that imbalance in their marriage as well. Emilio’s drive may have helped propel Gloria to international success, but the scene also makes clear that he could be a demanding partner - and that Gloria ultimately learned to trust her own instincts about balancing ambition with a sustainable, healthy life.

This production delivers on every level - from personal struggles to relationship dynamics to the creation of a sound that became a global phenomenon.

On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan is the rare jukebox musical that feels like a celebration rather than a playlist. Drury Lane’s production is vibrant, heartfelt, and irresistibly fun. You walk out lighter than you walked in, humming a tune you didn’t realize you remembered, and wondering if it’s socially acceptable to start wearing sequins to work.

If you want a night that’s equal parts concert, dance party, and theatrical hug, On Your Feet! delivers it with style.

Highly recommended!

For tickets and/or more show information, visit https://drurylanetheatre.com/on-your-feet/.

There is something bittersweet of a one-time performance. The single moment in time displaying artistic excellence, be it music, dance, or art, retreats as quickly as it appears. The audience is often left reeling and wrestling with their emotions, reflecting on the performance, and recalling the beautiful moments they witnessed, as if trying to convert the fleetingness of the art to memory and make sense of their emotions. There is no better venue in all of Chicagoland suited to those brief artistic moments than Ravinia. 

This June, Ravinia was the backdrop for the Ruth Page Civic Ballet and Friends showcase featuring four talented dance companies (Ruth Page Civic Ballet, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Hedwig Dances, and Jumaane Taylor) performing classical and contemporary dance pieces that explored human nature and our emotions. More notably, the companies featured trainees of the dance companies, young burgeoning Chicago talent looking to launch their careers as professional dancers. Many of the young artists had offers in hand to prestigious programs and companies around the country with many more offers hopefully to follow.  

The showcase featured eight beautiful pieces roughly ten to twenty minutes in length. Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s piece “Aisantnaf” featuring Ahmad Hill was a standout performance with intricate lighting highlighting the dancer’s body and movement in intricate detail, making the slow burning performance entrancing to watch. Hedwig Dances featured a single contemporary piece “Syzygy” featuring H. Meneses, Rigo Suara, and Paula Sousa that explored the power of three as both humans and something more cellular. The piece had an odd track that made it almost uncomfortable to watch and the musical accompaniment played almost too loud, distracting from the interlacing of the dancers on the stage. It would be worth a second watch and a possible track change to see the piece performed again. 

The absolute crowd favorite of the showcase was Jumaane Taylor and Kayana Latimer of Jumaane Taylor and Stone Soup Rhythms performing “Cheap Suites 1-5.” The tap dancers play in these five short lived rhythmic minutes-long wonders, scratching deep into the floor until they decide to "check-out." The ensemble taps into a determination to morph the strategi rthymic patterns of Karriem Riggins (Detroit master drummer and producer), using detailed tap steps to particularly collaborate with these intrumental vibrations. The tap number was high energy and showcased the incredible skill, speed, and mastery the craft requires. Each small tap or pounding step resonated with the stage and the music in perfect lock step. It brought a smile to every face in the audience and was a difficult act to follow within the showcase.

In every showcase there is one performance that leaves you wanting more. For me it was a Ruth Page piece. While “Pasajera La Lluvia” featuring Kaelen Gouveia and Oscar Uribe Zapata was a beautiful contemporary piece, the standout was the finale performance of “Abscission” by Adrián Marcelo Sáenz. The number featured all the Ruth Page trainees within their ballet company; Keely Clark, Kaelen Gouveia, Hannah Gonzalez, Mian Hirasawa, Alicia Rene Kenefic, and Oscar Uribe Zapata. The contemporary performance was an exploration of the most intimate and dark places of ourselves; a self-imposed chain, a toxic past, a double edged decision, are we free or lost without them? It was an intimate, technical, and passionate performance by all the dancers and truly was a culmination of their years of hard work and talent. The entire piece could be expanded on to be a standalone show.

While a single performance can leave one bittersweet, it can also be the culmination of years of training displaying the years of hard work and talent put into the artform. The young talent on display at Ravinia for Ruth Page Civic Ballet and Friends was beautiful in its fleetingness. Chicago and Ravinia should expect to see these talented artists soon as they embark on the next chapters of their careers. To learn more about the Ruth Page Center of the Arts’ programs and initiatives, please visit www.ruthpage.org. To view Ravinia’s 2023 and lineup and purchase tickets visit www.ravinia.org.

Contemporary dance is an art form like any other. As a style of dance it is much more of a philosophy than a strict technique like, say, traditional ballet or modern. Rather, it draws inspiration from both techniques and creates an entirely different experience for the audience. Much like art, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Whether you are a fan of contemporary dance or not, you should take the time away from the bitter winter cold and venture into the Auditorium Theatre to experience The Joffrey Ballet’s presentation of Contemporary Choreographers.

Like many of the contemporary showcases performed by The Joffrey, Contemporary Choreographers is split into three productions: Crossing Ashland, Continuum, and Episode 31. Let’s quickly cover off on some highlights; Episode 31, the final performance in the series choreographed by Alexander Ekman, is actually quite fun. It can adequately be described as a dramatic playground, bringing a youthful approach to dance with a touch of humor; no seriously, people were laughing along to the performances.

The second performance in the series is Continuum, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. This was the least entertaining performance for me; I would equate the performance as a whole as looking a blank white canvas in an art museum with a title like “Block 39.” To many, they would draw a profound and ethereal message from the blank white canvas, while others might see just a white canvas, blank and without meaning. Many of those in the audience gave Continuum a standing ovation, but to me the performance lacked a story and with it a reason to enjoy and watch it. Then again, it followed one of the best contemporary pieces I would safely say is the most enjoyable contemporary performance I’ve ever seen, so I am slightest biased.

Throughout the opening piece called Crossing Ashland, choreographed by Brock Clawson, dancers in streets clothes created the vision of pedestrians passing each other on the street, walking briskly back and forth across the stage. These stoics in street clothes turned expressive when they stripped away their outer layers of clothing and exposed the vulnerability of their inner selves. Crossing, the dancers showed us what we look like; dancing, they showed us the enormity of what we feel. The performances’ emotions were palpable to the audience and after each dancer took the stage you begged them to say longer. The dancers themselves were drop-dead, makes-you-want-to-go-workout, idol-worthy specimens, each and every muscle working to show their emotions. In lament terms, they were hot.

So what makes Crossing Ashland special? It’s the fact that the dance is so relatable, so understandable to the audience; two people pass on the street, their hands touching slightly, longingly, but then they part. So much is said in those moments without saying a word, and when two dancers portraying their emotions take the stage and perform a deeply passionate interpretation of breaking-up and making-up, you are captivated. Crossing Ashland could easily be made into a full length production and take the stage for a full two hours and no one would be bored. And more importantly, it could introduce an entirely new generation to contemporary choreography that isn’t limited to what one sees on televised dance shows or in the movies.

So cross Wabash Avenue and make your way to the Auditorium Theatre to see Contemporary Choreographers. The show runs through February 23^rd. It is a breath of fresh air to a modern style of dance that will hopefully leave you breathless.