Displaying items by tag: Chicago Dance

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.

For those who may have missed this one time show on December 10th, The return of Tidings of Tap, was filled with joy and the love of dance for the 2017 Holiday Season for families, friends and tap lovers of all ages.  Celebrating their 15th Anniversary, Chicago Tap Theatre presents this tapping extravaganza celebrating Chanukah/Christmas and the winter season, performing with a live band directed by Kurt Schweitz. To help celebrate their 15th Anniversary, Chicago Tap Theatre (CTT) is being challenged by The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, to raise and match funds, to support CTT’s mission in producing high quality and innovative tap dance performances and expanding the art form of tap.

The North Shore Center for Performing Arts in Skokie, was the perfect intimate location for this anniversary holiday extravaganza, giving all audience members a perfect view of the dancers, and more importantly their feet. Highlighted throughout the show, the sound of the tappers helped to create and compliment the holiday music featured.  Tidings of Tap includes a syncopated “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” medley during the Carols number, flicks of flame for Candlelight, anger and frustration for our shoppers during Black Friday and even featuring musical stylings from Artistic Director, Mark Yonally and the live band in, Rest Ye, Man. Besides Yonally, the very talented dancing troupe includes Kirsten Ittich, Jennifer Yonally, Aimee Chause, Isacc Stauffer, Sara Anderson, Sarah Owens, Anabel Watson, Bailey Caves, Chris Matthews, Emily Broeker and Dasha Merkulov.

Tidings of Tap, is a fantastic holiday show, that will keep you smiling from beginning to the Shim Sham end, where all tappers from the audience of all ages are encouraged to join the performers on stage for their final dance of the night.  An inspirational show for the season, for new dancers and to reignite the passion of dancers who continue to shuffle in their seats, Tidings of Tap really does bring in the happiest tidings of the season.

For more information on Chicago Tap Theatre including upcoming events, visit www.chicagotaptheatre.com.