Dance Search
37th American Spanish Dance & Music Festival
Through 6/23: various times, see website
773-327-3778Dance
A celebration of Spanish culture. Featuring new work from Ensemble Español. $26-$46
Ain't Misbehavin'
Through 6/23: Fri-Sat 7 PM, Sun 5 PMDance
A dance revue set to the music of Fats Weller. $40-$60
Bully.Punk.Riot
Through 6/30: Thu-Sun 7 PM 773-341-8940Dance
BONEdanse presents a choreographed performance that explores "the inherent herding mentality found in religion, fighting, sports, and the music scene." $12-$20
Gravity
Through 6/23: Sat 7 PM, Sun 2 PMDance
You know the circus act: performers hanging from ropes, rings, or long fabric loops strike hyperathletic poses high above the ground. Now replace the artless displays of muscular prowess with grace, lyricism, and careful attention to the lines of the female form—and lower everything to about eight feet off the floor—and you've got Aerial Dance Chicago's new concert. Or most of it, anyway. The last two pieces in the 90-minute show toss grandiosity and shtick into the mix with unfortunate results. In the other seven, which feature one to four dancers in costumes resembling 1940s swimwear, the various choreographers let simple gestures—and occasional great swoops and plunges—speak for themselves. The darkness that envelops everything enhances the elegiac tone. —Justin Hayford $30
1016 N. Dearborn St.
Gold Coast/Mag Mile/Streeterville
312-337-6543Hedwig Dances/DanzAbierta
Fri-Sat 6/21-6/22, 7:30 PM 773-935-6875Dance
Gazing at ripped bodies is the raison d'etre of dance. Or is it? DanzAbierta—a 25-year-old Cuban troupe making its Chicago debut thanks to Hedwig Dances—relies on buff performers and suggestive moves to explode tacky stereotypes of Cuban dance and "personality" in Showroom, Susana Pous's onstage/backstage drama. This hour-long U.S. premiere, the opening volley in a planned cultural exchange with Hedwig, employs a movable stage curtain and dancers in various states of undress to heighten the contrasts between performance personas and actual humans. Wide-ranging music and movement, from homogenized traditional to Afro-Cuban and contemporary, help set the scenes. Showroom walks a fine line between titillation and satire, but the riveting final section—which includes some fine acting and impressive trompe l'oeil effects—definitely pulls us into the dancers' consciousness.
Though Hedwig will eventually collaborate with DanzAbierta on a joint work, the two companies divvy up this program; the other half is the premiere of ASCENDance, by Hedwig artistic director Jan Bartoszek. More abstract than Showroom, this 50-minute multimedia piece investigates the struggle by all life forms, not just human, to achieve transformation. At times the six dancers are immersed in a surreal set created by sculptor Barbara Cooper, video designer Petra Bachmaier, and lighting expert Ken Bowen, accompanied by Matthew Ferraro's music. The Hedwig performers—pliant yet precise in detailed, highly kinetic moves—supply the human factor. —Laura Molzahn
$15-$30Kaleidoscope
6/21-6/23: Fri-Sun 7:30 PMDance
Alliance Dance Company presents new work created by house choreographers. $12-$22
Mama's Boy
6/21-6/30: Fri and Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM 773-327-5252Dance
Chicago Tap Theatre a "tap opera," featuring choreography from Mark Yonally. $20-$35
The Rite of Spring
6/21-6/23: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PMDance
An adaptation of Igor Stravinsky's 1913 ballet. Presented by Chicago Repertory Ballet. $25
