Category: 4PHOTOS

4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert DanceDancerMusic Exclusive

4PHOTOS: Still Inspired(?) presents “Release”

January 10, 2019

We live in a world of that has become accustomed to instant gratification and yearns for it. The speed of achievement seems to be just as important as the achievement itself, but if we take a step back, we may just discover that the things that require patience can be the most rewarding of all. Taking time to reflect and observe can provide us with insights and opportunities that can come to us no other way, and that is exactly what the choreographers, dancers, and visual artists at Still Inspired(?) aim to do. For the last five years, Still Inspired(?)

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4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert DanceDancerMusic Exclusive

4PHOTOS: Red Clay Dance Company’s “EKILI MUNDA | What Lies Within” with Vershawn Sanders-Ward

December 17, 2018

What do you want to do with your life? It is a question we are asked time and time again through our childhood and at every pivotal turn in our lives. While there are many answers to the question, some of us are able to give a response that creates a vision of the future for others. Those special individuals are the ones with limitless dreams, who carry the will and determination to see those dreams through, and whose hearts bear the passion to inspire others. That is the kind of person that Vershawn Sanders-Ward is. It is clear that Vershawn’s vision of the future is limitless, her passion infectious, and her dedication as solid as her unwavering work ethic. All of this has spread beyond the studio and stage in Chicago and most recently brought Red Clay Dance Company artists to Kampala, Uganda for the “TransAtlantic Project.” This journey to Africa marked RCDC’s first international collaboration with Keiga Dance Company, and if the world premiere of their collaborative work this past November was just the beginning of what’s to come, it is more dazzling proof of Vershawn’s ability to continue to dream big and achieve something even bigger. DancerMusic’s Kristi Licera recently caught up with Vershawn to get an inside look at the product of Red Clay’s first collaboration with Keiga Dance Company, “EKILI MUNDA | What Lies Within.” Here’s what Vershawn told us:

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4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert DanceDance Cinema

4PHOTOS: Jazmyne M. K. Geis Talks About Dance on Film in “Augmented Organism”

November 29, 2018

As an art form, dance on film is in its very early stages. Despite the visual enchantment of concert dance, there isn't yet any widespread understanding of how that enchantment can be shared with a wider audience in video and film. There are probably many skills, many ideas, many techniques yet to be discovered that will bring new dimensions to concert dance when it is presented in a visual recording, and in their film Augmented Organism, Jazmyne M. K. Geis and Cy Gorman not only explore, but master many those possibilities. Here are 4PHOTOS from Augmented Organism, with description and insights from Jazmyne Geis.

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4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert DanceDancerMusic ExclusiveJazz and BluesMusic

4PHOTOS: Cerqua Rivera’s Fall Series with Executive Director Catherine Painter

October 24, 2018

Now on the cusp of their twentieth anniversary season, CRDT's success is due largely in part to the consistently strong choices of Artistic Director and Co-founder Wilfredo Rivera. As from the beginning, Wilfredo's passion, creativity, and commitment to artistic collaboration continue to lead the company to new performance venues, new audiences, and new creative projects that push the boundaries of both the individual artist and the ensemble as a whole. Behind the scenes, there is another person integral to the success and growth of Cerqua Rivera - Executive Director Catherine Painter. For the last five years, Catherine has worked alongside the artistic team at CRDT to ensure that their unique mixture of dance and live music can reach as many communities as possible. The work and thought she has put behind each and every choice for Cerqua Rivera culminated last year in the company's first ever three-venue tour of Chicago. This year's Fall Concert Series placed CRDT back to the same three venues: the series opened in Evanston, traveled down to Lakeview, and will soon close in Hyde Park. The big difference is the program has already made a much bigger splash than in the previous season, and there's still one performance to go. DancerMusic's Kristi Licera caught up with Catherine to learn more about Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre and the choices they continue to make that create the enriching experience the Fall Concert Series offers their audiences. Here's what Catherine told us:

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4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert Dance

Dance for Life 2018: 4PHOTOS with Nomi Dance Company

August 13, 2018

They say the best gifts are the ones you make yourself. The time, energy and thoughtfulness put into a handmade item is forever ingrained within it, making it truly unique. Here at DancerMusic, some of the best gift makers we know are the ones that create dance. These choreographers often spend countless hours in the studio creating movement, plus an ample amount of time researching and reflecting to refine what they make. No two creations are ever quite the same, and become more unique when you consider that no two performances of the same piece of choreography are identical. As

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4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert DanceDancerMusic Exclusive

Dance for Life 2018: 4PHOTOS with Hanna Bricston and Dancers

August 13, 2018

Dancers have the unique ability to take a piece of music and really show it to you. You may be thinking, how is that possible? Sound is a wave invisible to the naked eye, and even if you were to see that piece of music performed live, you would see the action that creates the sound, but not the sound itself. Here's where the dancer comes in. If a dancer were to create movement to your favorite song, chances are that dancer would pick up on the nuances in rhythm, accents in instrumentation, the subtle meaning behind the lyrics, and

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Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's Rena Butler (Photo by Todd Rosenberg, Graphic Design by Alice Klock)
4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert Dance

Dance for Life 2018: 4PHOTOS With Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

August 6, 2018

One of the reasons that Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is known all over the world is because they perform all over the world. Just this summer, audiences in Mexico, Canada, and across the United State have seen them, but when it gets to be the middle of August, if you want to see Hubbard Street perform you have to come to Chicago, and it's been like that for twenty-seven years. Thats how long Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has been performing at Dance for Life -- since the first Dance for Life, and once again this year, they'll be at Dance for Life

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Giordano Dance Chicago -Tossed Around by Ray Mercer - Dancers (left to right): Zachary Heller, Katie Rafferty, Ashley Downs, Natasha Overturff (airborne) and Adam Houston (Gorman Cook Photography)
4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert Dance

Dance For Life 2018: 4PHOTOS With Giordano Dance Chicago

July 31, 2018

Giordano Dance Chicago will be performing Ray Mercer's Tossed Around when they take the stage on August 18th for Dance For Life 2018 at The Auditorium Theatre. So much goes into a work like Tossed Around that if you're seeing a work like that for the very first time, it can be a lot to take in all at once. That's why it's so great when somebody can give an audience a better idea of what they're about to see. Michael McStraw is the Executive Director of Giordano Dance Chicago, and he knows Tossed Around better than most, and not just its multiple layers of design. McStraw knows what went into it, and a lot of what has come out of it for audience and artists alike. He's one of those artists who has both danced and directed dance companies, someone who can mix passion and professionalism and never drop a beat. So naturally, we asked Michael McStraw to give us a little deeper look into Tossed Around. Here's what he told us:

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4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert Dance

Dance for Life 2018: 4PHOTOS with The Joffrey Ballet

July 31, 2018

As artists, the best way for dancers to express and work through something as close to home as body expectations is, of course, through dance. This is exactly what The Joffrey Ballet will be bringing to the stage at Dance for Life 2018 with Myles Thatcher's Body Of Your Dreams. DancerMusic caught up with choreographer Myles Thatcher to learn more about his work, as well as Joffrey Artists Derrick Agnoletti and Nicole Ciapponi to get perspectives on working with Myles and dancing this highly athletic work. Here's what they told us:

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Chicago Dance Crash's KC Bevis and Elijah Motley (Photo by Philamanjaro)
4PHOTOSChoreography and Concert Dance

Dance For Life 2018: 4PHOTOS With Chicago Dance Crash

July 25, 2018

Among the many arts of the Art of Dance, freestyling is its own special world, but it includes just about every part of what makes dance an art. Great freestyle starts with having such a range of motion and technique and inspiration that you can present any of it at any moment. Although the creative decisions are made faster than even the fastest of movement, those are the same decisions and the same creativity that are always the essence of making a dance. So it's quite remarkable that at Dance For Life 2018, Chicago Dance Crash is there to freestyle -- which is almost unheard of for such a monumental production. Crash Artistic Director Jessica Deahr took some time to give us a little closer look at four moments from Chicago Dance Crash's very rich freestyle history in 4PHOTOS from Crash. Here we go:

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