Ballet 5:8 presents "Butterfly" at Chicago's Studebaker Theater Saturday, March 7, 2020. DancerMusic asked Artistic Director Julianna Slager to give us insight into this ballet, inspired by the stories of the Jewish population that lived in the Terezin ghetto during World War II. Here's what she told us:
As you get closer to it, the Milwaukee Ballet's Ballet Russe Reimagined begins to seem more like an ultra HD close-up of a world that could just as easily be right now. We asked Nicole Teague-Howell about what she found as she set out to transform the inspiration of a century past into a new kind of imagining. Here's what she told us:
With new works from Shannon Alvis, Rebecca Lemme, Anna Long, Lizzie MacKenzie, Jacqueline Stewart, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, and Chicago Repertory Ballet, Dancing to Dream promises to be one of the years most imaginative dance concerts. We asked Dancing to Dream's Jacqueline Stewart about her dream to make this all happen. Here's what she told us:
Soloist Oleg Gabyshev dances the role of Leon in the North American premiere of Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg's "The Pygmalion Effect" at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre. Here's what he told us about learning ballroom technique and his character:
ABT Dancer Rachel Richardson compares "Whipped Cream" with beloved classic "The Nutcracker" to give us an in-depth look at the whimsy that choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and visual artist Mark Ryden will bring to Chicago's Auditorium Theatre. Here's what she told us:
Gavin Sutherland is the Music Director of English National Ballet, and he's a master of an invisible art. He knows how a dancer moves to sound, and how to keep the sounds that come from an orchestra of musicians moving perfectly with a stage full of dancers. He knows every part in detail, and he knows how to make each of them part of all of the others. DancerMusic wanted to learn more about all of this --- about the complex choreography of collaborations that are the heart of Gavin Sutherland's art. So we asked him if he would give us a look inside the art of bringing music to dance, and here's what he told us:
In every DancerMusic publication past, our writers and editors have been tasked with creating the introductions to each article. We have been held responsible for setting the scene and tone of the wonderful discoveries to come, but to each rule there is an exception, and here's one now. When our editors Johnny Nevin and Kristi Licera started talking to Ballet 5:8 Artistic Director Julianna Slager about putting together this 4PHOTOS, we tossed around ideas of what insights her photo captions would contain, and to quote Julianna in a previous 5 Question Interview, we "let the fish swim." When we received
Creating a masterpiece can take a lifetime. There is a certain process in crafting each detail that cannot be rushed, but in a world of limited time and tight funding, modern day artists have been forced to find creative ways to make the best of their resources. This is especially true in the world of dance, where choreographers are tasked not only with making movement to communicate their stories and ideas, but must also make considerations for the perfect musical score, costuming, and lighting and stage design. So how do dance makers begin to approach the task of bringing all
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:
If you recall our PRE-View of Hyde Park School of Dance's Amira: A Chicago Cinderella Story, then you may remember HPSD Artistic Director August Tye mention that the Prince's journey to find his princess, Amira, leads him on a search through some iconic neighborhoods on Chicago's south side. The dancers' balletic movement and gestures are the main vein for storytelling, but what completes this scenic journey are the projections and illustrations Tye has created in collaboration with photographer Damien Thompson and illustrator Sara Petrolis. DancerMusic got an exclusive sneak peek at the images to be used in Amira, and asked Damien Thompson to tell us more about the process of creating these powerful images and what role they play in bringing Amira to life. Take a journey through Chicago's south side as you learn what Damien told us:
