Now Enrolling for HANDS TOGETHER, HEART TO ART Summer Camp

Enrollment is now open for the 5th year of our unique summer camp program, Hands Together, Heart to Art. HTHTA is a two-week performing arts day camp for children ages 7-14 who have experienced the death of a parent.

Using several areas of the performing arts, the program encourages communication, fosters emotional growth and provides the consolation of friendship and compassion. Through interaction with other children who have experienced a similar loss, campers understand they are not alone in their situation. Camp activities encourage team building, self-esteem, consciousness and problem solving.

If you know a child who would benefit from HTHTA, please call 312.922.2110 ext 353 or visit http://www.hthta.org/ for information and to download a brochure.

2009 Camp Dates:

Chicago (Roosevelt University):

July 6-17 (ages 7-11)

July 20-31 (ages 10-14)

NEW LOCATION - Moline (Western Illinois University):

August 3-14 (ages 7-14)

LoopUChicago.com Official Launch!

LoopUChicago.com officially launches today!

Visit the Auditorium at the Official Launch Party
from 3 - 7 p.m. at the University Center.
(located at 525 South State Street)

FREE Food and Drinks
AWESOME Raffle Prizes
AMAZING Video of Chicago’s Loop set to music
MEET Chicago Loop Businesses
INTERACT with fellow Loop college students
LEARN about the Block 37 Mosaic Bench competition
FUN with Tommy Hawk – the Blackhawk's mascot
PLAY board games with your schoolmates

LoopUChicago.com is a website designed to connect Loop college and university students with Loop businesses and services. Students will find events and happenings, discounts to Loop businesses and more!

Gaga Master Class

22 local high school students participated in a "Gaga" master class this weekend at Gallery 37. The class was led by a dancer from Batsheva Dance Company.

Boris Eifman On His Latest Work, "Onegin"

Visionary choreographer Boris Eifman will be bringing the Chicago premiere of his latest work, Onegin, to the Auditorium May 14-17. Inspired by Pushkin's novel Eugene Onegin, this is a story of love, rejection and regret.

"In turning to great literature to inspire my ballets, I try to use the art of choreography to express the emotional agitation that comes from communing with the wisdom and creative power of our genius predecessors. The word is an instrument of both creation and destruction; it can generate and it can annihilate.

The language of the body, as the most ancient form of self-expression, bears universally understood emotional and spiritual values. By turning to the literary original source, I make it my goal to reveal what is of concern to my contemporaries and what can be expressed only through the great art of choreography.

Why did I choose Alexander Pushkin’s novel Eugene Onegin, what is in it that affects me today? The novel has been called “an encyclopedia of Russian life,” in which Pushkin saw and created an amazingly accurate archetype of the Russian character of his time, fashioning a poetic image of the Russian soul, mysterious, unpredictable, and incredibly sensual.

I use my art to understand the secrets of the Russian soul. Basing a ballet on Eugene Onegin is one more attempt to express innermost spirituality through dance.

I transported Pushkin’s characters to our times, placing them in new circumstances, more dramatic, even extreme, when the old world is collapsing and life dictates new rules. I needed that experiment in order to answer the question that troubles me: what is the Russian soul today? Has it preserved its uniqueness, its mystery, its attraction? What would the novel’s characters do with their lives today? What in the novel was just a reflection of the times and what was a sign of the destiny of many generations of my fellow countrymen?

The art of choreography is unable to respond to the real questions of building a society. But by participating in the creative formulation of those questions, analysis, and individual evaluation, we participate in the process of society’s perfection." - Boris Eifman

What Is Gaga? (Batsheva Dance Company)

“Gaga challenges multi layer tasks. It is fundamental for gaga users to be available for this challenge.

At once we, the users, can be involved in moving slowly through space while a quick action in our body is in progress. Those dynamics of movement are only a portion of what else might go on at the same time.

We are letting our mind observe and analyze many things at once, we are aware of the connection between effort and pleasure, we connect to the “sense of plenty of time”, especially when we move fast, we are aware of the distance between our body parts, we are aware of the friction between flesh and bones, we sense the weight of our body parts, we are aware of where we hold unnecessary tension, we let go only to bring life and efficient movement to where we let go…We are listening, seeing, measuring, playing with the texture of our flesh, we might be silly, decorating our inside, we can laugh at ourselves.

We learn to love our sweat, we discover our passion to move and connect it to effort, we discover both the animal in us and the power of our imagination.

We learn to appreciate understatement and exaggeration, we discover the difference between joy and pleasure and use both to protect ourselves from injuring and hurting our body, we learn to apply our force in an efficient way and we learn to use “other” forces,We become more delicate and we recognize the importance of the flow of energy and information through our body in all directions!

We discover the advantage of soft flesh and sensitive hands, we learn to connect to groove even when there is no music.

We become more aware of people in the room and we realize that we are not in the center of it all. We never look at ourselves in a mirror, there are no mirrors. We become better aware of our form. We connect to the sense of the endless of possibilities.

We explore multi dimensional movement, we enjoy the burning sensation in our muscles, we are ready to snap, we are aware of what we are made of, we are aware of our explosive power and some times we use it.

We change our movement habits by finding new ones, we can be calm and alert at once.
We become available…”
-Ohad Naharin, March 2008

"America in the Age of Obama" Program

Next Wednesday, February 11th, the Auditorium is joining forces with the City Lights Orchestra for a Presidents' Day concert, "America in the Age of Obama: A Concert Honoring Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Here are the details of the evening - a great line-up!

PART ONE: WE THE PEOPLE

God Bless America Featuring Linda Clifford
We Shall Be Free Featuring Bruce Mattey
A Change Is Gonna Come Featuring Linda Clifford
The Battle Hymn of the Republic Featuring the Walter Payton College Prep Concert Choir
From Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address read by Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (Original orchestration by Christopher Lay)
Give Me Your Tired Featuring the Walter Payton College Prep Concert Choir

PART TWO: THE PROMISE

The Best Is Yet To Come Featuring Mark Madsen
Lean On Me Featuring Suzanne Palmer
Signed, Sealed, Delivered Featuring Suzanne Palmer
The River Featuring Linda Clifford
From Barack Obama’s Presidential Candidacy Announcement at Springfield, Illinois read by Dennis Gannon & Tim Drea
America’s Working Heroes Featuring Bruce Mattey
America the Beautiful Featuring Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago


PART THREE: WITH LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL

The Stars & Stripes Forever Composed by John Philip Sousa
An Ellingtonian Renaissance Featuring Orbert Davis
Just A Closer Walk With Thee Featuring Orbert Davis & Rich Daniels
Shed A Little Light Featuring Bruce Mattey & the Walter Payton College Prep Concert Choir
From “What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes” by Barack Obama read by Dr. Charles Middleton
May The Good Lord Bless & Keep You Featuring the Walter Payton College Prep Concert Choir

PART FOUR: UNITED WE STAND

From Barack Obama’s Election Night Speech read by Attorney General Lisa Madigan
My Kind of Town Featuring Mark Madsen
From Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address read by Attorney General Lisa Madigan
Hero Featuring Suzanne Palmer
R-E-S-P-E-C-T Featuring Linda Clifford
O Happy Day Featuring Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago
An American Soliloquy read by Jim Williams (Music by Richard Rogers)
United We Stand Entire Cast
God Bless America Featuring Linda Clifford & Entire Cast

Tickets are available by phone at 312.902.1500, online or in person at our box office. Tickets are just $55 and $35!

Batsheva Dance Company Coverage

The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Jewish News all featured Batsheva Dance Company over the weekend:

Naharin presents greatest hits with 'Deca', Chicago Tribune

Going 'Gaga' Over Dance, Chicago Sun-Times

A moving experience from Israel, Chicago Jewish News

Don't miss this one-of-a-kind experience at the Auditorium on February 7 at 7:30 p.m. and February 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available by phone at 312.902.1500, online or at our box office at 50 E. Congress Parkway.

Student Rush - Batsheva and America in the Age of Obama

Here's the student rush information for the next two Auditorium events:

Batsheva Dance Company: $15 tickets available beginning at noon on Thursday, February 5th. Two tickets per valid college ID. Student rush tickets are available at the box office only.

America in the Age of Obama: $15 tickets available beginning Monday, February 9th at noon. Two tickets per valid college ID, box office only.

Rush tickets will be available until showtime and are subject to availability.

Batsheva Dance Company - What Is "Deca Dance"

Here is how Batsheva Dance Company's Artistic Director Ohad Naharin describes his work "Deca Dance," which will be performed this weekend at the Auditorium:

"Deca Dance is not a new work. It is more about reconstruction: I like to take pieces or sections of existing works and rework it, reorganize it and create the possibility to look at it from a new angle. It always teaches me something new about my work and composition. In "Deca Dance" I took sections from different works. It was like I was telling only either the beginning, middle or ending of many stories but when I organized it the result became as coherent as the original if not more."

Saturday and Sunday's "Deca Dance" performance will include excerpts from the following works by Naharin:

B/olero (2008)
Telophaza (2006)
George & Zalman (2006)
Three (2005)
Zachacha (1998)
Anaphaza (1993)
Mabul (1992)

Tickets for Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2pm are available by phone at 312.902.1500, online or at our box office at 50 E. Congress Parkway.