When Visceral Dance presents their Fall Engagement their audience will see the way that the dynamic balance of a constantly moving organization can fill a stage with dance. We asked Executive Director Dawn Stanislaw to share a little of what goes into putting all of this together. Here's what she told us:
Although nobody talks about it very much, courage is an important part of dance. It takes courage to go on stage and perform of course, but it also takes courage to keep facing the reality of imperfection, a reality that in some ways becomes more vivid the more you find the courage to improve. Then there are even more intimidating, more difficult challenges, some of them very frightening, and that's when you need courage just to keep going. Paige Fraser has always done that and more. When she was awarded a Princess Grace Award, when she was named by Dance Magazine to their prestigious 25 to Watch, and all of the other times that her work has been so widely admired, many people might have thought that it was because of her exceptional gifts as a performer, and of course it was. But the only reason anyone ever got to see Paige Fraser's always-impressive performances is because she kept going, even when anyone with less courage might have given up. Fraser has begun to turn more of her attention to choreography, and her latest work is a twenty-five minute piece entitled ASCENSION for Northwestern University. We wanted to hear more from Paige about her work as a choreographer, and especially about ASCENSION, so we asked her to give us an idea of what we'll see in March at Northwestern's Josephine Louis Theater. Here's what she told us:
Dance can be intimidating for a new audience member. The abstract nature of the art can cause confusion, ambiance in the theater can be stiflingly formal, and if that were not enough, there is the inconvenience of leaving your ever-so-comfortable home to get there in the first place. So why is it worth it to become a firsthand consumer of dance? What makes it all worth it? If you speak to dance audience regulars, they will each have their own answer, and that's the beauty of it. An audience may see the same performance, but each person has the opportunity to
Taylor Mitchell has a brand new work, and naturally, we wanted to hear all about it. It's called Out of Pocket, and its performance by MitchellMovement is part of Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival's second weekend of performances (Friday September 28 and Saturday September 29, both at 8PM). It's an ideal pairing; Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival brings together a rich spectrum of imaginative independent choreography each year, and Mitchell epitomizes the kind of engaging and impactful dance that HCCDF was founded to present. We asked Taylor to let us in on more of what we'll get to see when Out of Pocket takes the stage at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, and here's what he told us:
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
Five thousand miles is a long way to be from home. When you're this far away, especially for years at a time, you may find yourself searching for that something that will always keep you connected. For dance artist Riccardo Battaglia, that something comes from within. It is an undeniable light and joy - a warmth forever fueled by the sunshine he carries with him from his home in Italy. Since making the solo move from Pescara, Italy to New York City just over seven years ago, Riccardo's career has blossomed in tandem with his incredible talent. And if the height
On Saturday, April 7, the audience for Visceral Dance Chicago's SpringFive performance will see choreographer Kevin O'Day's latest work, the World Premier of "A Fine Line", and there wasn't much time between when (a) we heard about this and (b) we knew we wanted to hear more about this. So we reached out to Kevin and learned all kinds of interesting things about "A Fine Line", about working with Visceral, and about Kevin O'Day's rich and humane understanding of the art of dance, and for that matter, the art of understanding. Here's what he told us:
While freelancing may not provide the stability that a full-time company can, it has a world of benefits all its own that many professional dancers will experience at some point in their career. For dance artist Brandon Coleman, the transition from full-time company dancer to freelance artist also came with a change of environment - a move from Chicago to New York City. Read on to learn more about Brandon's journey and how some big changes have ignited a new chapter in his career:
There’s nothing like a good get-together with friends, especially around the holidays. You never know what can happen at these gatherings, and we are certainly curious to know what will happen when the dance artists known as The Cambrians present Chicago Dances, a special gathering of their own running December 14-18 at Hairpin Studios. DancerMusic’s Kristi Licera recently ran into Noelle Kayser, and could not help but get the inside scoop on this collaborative evening of original works:
Visceral Dance Chicago kicked off their Fall Engagement series with a performance at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie this weekend, and DancerMusic's Kristi Licera was in the audience to capture what you missed:
