Ensemble Español will perform "Mar del Fuego" at Dance for Life 2019, and DancerMusic's Crystal Gurrola asked Executive and Associate Artistic Director Jorge Pérez about the piece, its dedication to Dame Libby Komaiko, and the future of this great company. Here's what he told us.
Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater can fill a stage with excitement like few other dance companies can. In their stated purpose to 'preserve, promote, and present' the many Dance and Music traditions of Spain -- Flamenco, Folkloric, Classical, and Contemporary-- they've developed a unique history, a unique repertory, and a unique choreographic voice. They'll be presenting their Flamenco Passion: A Tribute to Jose Greco’s 100th Anniversary at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts (on Friday and Saturday, June 15-16 at 7:30pm, and again on Sunday, June 17 at 3pm), and the program is an especially important and exciting one. DancerMusic asked Ensemble Español Artistic Director Irma Suárez Ruiz and Executive Director Jorge Pérez to share with us a little more about what we'll see at The North Shore Center, and here's what they told us:
If you had just happened to walk in on one of Chicago Human Rhythm Project's annual STOMPING GROUNDS performances, that would have been amazing enough. STOMPING GROUNDS is a series of concerts that Chicago Human Rhythm Project has presented across the city of Chicago for the past four years, and it's not like anything else. Chicago Human Rhythm Project brings together a real all-star lineup of percussive dance companies, and to see the bright, energetic, irrestible enthusiasm of percussive dance in so many different forms, from so many different artists, steeped in the heritage of so many cultures, well that wouldn't just be amazing, that's more like a waterfall of amazing experiences, moment after cascading moment. But the Grand Finale of STOMPING GROUNDS promises to be all of that and more. There was so much that we wanted to learn about all of the dimensions of this multifaceted event that we asked Lane Alexander, Founder and Director of Chicago Human Rhythm Project, to give us a little more insight into STOMPING GROUNDS. Here's what he told us:
At Dance For Life this Saturday, August19, one of the more intriguing performances will be of In the Meantime. The collaborators describe the work as "a celebration of our distinct cultures and a recognition of our common impulses and the universal desire to make rhythm". Here, CHRP's Lane Alexander gives us an inside look at two of the photos from the work ...
