The Devil's Ball - Through the Eyes of a Lens

By Katy Bradford, 2012 Event Photographer

With the return of The Devil’s Ball this year, the Auditorium Theatre's Junior Board hosts an incredible evening of food, beverage and bidding. The lobby of the theatre provides an elegant backdrop for dancing and mingling.

Once you've grabbed a beverage and perused the silent auction items, you can mull over what to bid on while enjoying a complimentary backstage tour. While backstage you'll get a brief overview of the amazing musicians, dance companies, and actors who have graced the stage of the Auditorium Theatre. Next, stop by the photo booth to have photos taken. Props from boas to big sunglasses are provided, making your photos memorable, one of kind mementos of the evening for you and your friends to share.

Revisit the auction table to bid on a variety of silent auction items, ranging from professional photography sittings to Chicago Bears, Cubs and Sox ticket packages. If the silent auction doesn't get you, the Wine Cork Lottery may be more your speed. Corks are numbered and sold throughout the night. Winners then match their corks to a surprise bottle of wine to take home at the end of the evening. The selection includes a range of labels, even high-end bottles depending on how the corks fall.

As the evening winds down, the dancing continues and the silent auction winners are announced. The Devil's Ball is the perfect way to spend an evening with friends or come solo and meet new people who enjoy supporting the arts while having an incredible time.

Tickets for this year’s event can be purchased online through the Auditorium Theatre.

Growing Up with Ballet West [of "Breaking Pointe"]

By: Michele Holzman

Director, Northwest Ballet Academy

I am very excited to see Ballet West perform at the Auditorium Theater this fall. I grew up in Salt Lake City and feel a special kinship with Ballet West. I am bringing 60 people from my studio to the performance in order to share the experience.  Many people in Chicago would have no way of knowing the high quality of this ballet company unless they have been watching Breaking Pointe on television. 

Salt Lake City is a very unusual city.  Amidst the Rocky Mountains,  and less than 1/10 the size of Chicagoland , Salt Lake has an extremely strong arts community. The city has 3 modern dance companies of excellent repute, a fine symphony orchestra (The Utah Symphony), Ballet West, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the University of Utah, which has one of the best university ballet programs in the country. After establishing the San Francisco Ballet with his brothers Harold & Lew, Willam Christensen came to Salt Lake and began the University Ballet program in 1951.  Other universities had modern dance programs , but not a program for ballet dancers. He then went on to create  the Utah Civic Ballet which then became Ballet West in 1963. Bill Christensen was the first to stage  the full length Coppelia, Swan Lake and Nutcracker in the United States. 

When I was growing up in Salt Lake, one of the most exciting times of the year was the Nutcracker auditions. Children from Salt Lake area and even as far as Ogden came to audition. There were many strong ballet schools so the competition was fierce to be selected.  We used to do 24 performances of Nutcracker between Christmas and New Years, traveling  to Ogden, Logan, and Provo for additional performances. 

When I reached the university ballet department,  I was able to study with Bill Christensen, or Mr. C as we called him, and many other marvelous faculty members. Bill had an energy and charisma that made class fun and a drive for perfection that made us all better dancers. He has left a wonderful legacy of dance at the University and with Ballet West.  Ballet West now draws superb dancers from all over the country.  Under the leadership of Adam Sklute, the company is becoming even stronger. Last February I saw the Ballet West production of Cinderella in Salt Lake, and it was exquisite: beautiful ballet technique, amazing costumes and sets and excellent interpretation of the roles by the dancers. I would recommend that everyone take the opportunity to see this gem of a company at the Auditorium Theatre (October 4-6).

Click here for tickets and information.

The meaning behind "The Devil's Ball"

“He play'd the music at the Devil's Ball

 In the Devil's hall

I saw the funniest devil that I ever saw…”

- Irving Berlin

The Devil’s Ball is a is an annual fundraiser thrown by our Junior Board in order to raise money and generate awareness for the Auditorium Theatre for continued support in artistic programming, education, and restoration efforts.

So now you ask, why the name, “The Devil’s Ball?” We’ve had several questions about the name lately, so we thought we’d clear up the confusion. The event was partially named after the songAt the Devil’s Ball (1913), composed by Irving Berlin. The song offers a view of life in a contemporary city of 1913 as exciting and glamorous. Mr. Berlin is a very well know composer, having created the scores for Madame Butterfly, Top Hat and even White Christmas, a song featured in Holiday Inn (1935). And just as a side note, he was popular icon within the Hollywood elite of the era; he was a very close friend and colleague with Fred Astaire, Judy Garland and Ginger Rogers. We encourage you to listen to the song and read the full lyrics.

The Devil’s Ball was also inspired by the popular novel by Erik Larson and Chicago’s connection to the 1893 World’s Fair that the Auditorium Theatre was a part of. The author actually quotes some of the features of the Auditorium in his novel: "The result was an opulent structure that, for the moment, was the biggest private building in America. Its theater contained more than four thousand seats, twelve hundred more than New York's Metropolitan Opera House. And it was air-conditioned, through a system that blew air over ice."

So, now you know a little bit more about this event and the reference it has not only to the Auditorium Theatre, but also to Chicago’s history. The Devil’s Ball is a cocktail party that celebrates not only the Auditorium, but also ‘old Chicago’ in a gala event for those 21 years of age and above, as there will be an open bar.  The Junior Board is a group of young professionals dedicated to the preservation and restoration of our National Historic Landmark, Auditorium Theatre.  The event will also feature a silent auction, wine raffle, heavy appetizers, guided theatre tours of the historic Auditorium Theatre, a DJ and dancing.  Plus, make a trip to our popular return attraction, the Smilebooth. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore Chicago in a whole new way; dance with us at the Devil’s Ball.

The Devil's Ball
Presented by the Auditorium Theatre Junior Board and Rivers Casino

Venue: Auditorium Theatre Lobby
Dates: Friday, September 27, 2013
Times: 7:30 pm
Price: See Below

Join the Auditorium Theatre Junior Board for the third annual Devil's Ball. The evening includes cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, live DJ, theatre tours, auction and the return of the ever popular Smilebooth!

Tickets:
$65 until September 13
$75 from September 14 - September 26
$85 at the door (cash only)

Use special offer code BALL when purchasing

Ensemble Español's Bolero - 20th Anniversary Celebration

Ensemble Español will perform Bolero as part of the 2013 Chicago Dancing Festival on August 22. Additional information can be found on the Auditorium Theatre website.

Considered Maurice Ravel's most popular work, the Bolero premiered in Paris in 1929. That same year the great conductor, Arturo Toscanini introduced Bolero to the U.S.  Ravel was a great admirer of the Spanish composer, Isaác Albéniz who described his work as "orchestral tissue without music." Bolero consists of a theme and a rhythmic pattern which have permanently impressed themselves on the world's musical consciousness. The Bolero was originally written for ballerina, Ida Rubinstein (Bronislava Nijinska was the choreographer). She presented it as a solitary dancer in an empty café dancing alone until she was joined by one partner, then other couples until the room was a swirling mass. The ballet was a success and the music a sensation. This work is dedicated to the memory of Irving B. Dobkin, long-time officer of the Board of Directors and friend of the Ensemble Español.



Since its creation, Ensemble Español’s Bolero has graced some of the greatest landmark theaters in the world to well over one million audience members and been featured in two documentaries; Dance for Life: 20th Anniversary Documentary in 2010 (winner of two Emmy awards for best documentary and best director –Scott Silberstein of HMS media) and Sobre Las Olas del Mar: A story of Flamenco in the U.S. 2013 by director, Carolina Loyola Garcia. Dame Libby’s Bolero has also been featured on ABC television, Public Television and on Dean Richards, WGN Radio and Television and international media in China, Puerto Rico and Poland.

Internationally Dame Libby’s Bolero has been performed in Puerto Rico, Poland, China and in the U.S. for the St. Louis Dance Festival in 2010, 2011, 2013 to a roaring record breaking 12 standing ovation curtain calls. The Ensemble will present Bolero on August 22 & 24, 2013 in a Chicago historic double header at the Auditorium Theater of Roosevelt University and on the Pritzker Pavillion stage in Millennium Park as part of this years Chicago Dancing Festival.

BOLERO REVIEWS:

"...Bolero a huge success…3,000 people over three performances...so many standing ovations that if the curtain had not finally dropped the audience would still be applauding."
Michael Uthoff, Artistic and Executive Director, Dance St. Louis Festival

“This world-class company and its roster of guest artists never ceases to bedazzle its audiences with the variety, precision, beauty and heat of its performances...knocked it out of the park with Bolero…most phenomenal piece…extraordinary.”
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times / Auditorium Theater, Chicago

“Savvy stagecraft…set to Maurice Ravel’s famously escalating composition…sensuous choreography.” Laura Molzahn, DanceMagazine / Harris Theater, Chicago as part of Global Rhythms

“Bolero…beautiful, full of expression and magic…the music, dance and images will surely inscribe themselves in the memory of the audience that gave it a standing ovation and demanded encore” 

Polski Theater, Warsaw, Poland in honor of Warsaw Universities 190th Anniversary

“Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theatre's bravura benefit debut--opened the show with gorgeous, swirling, red-drenched costumes and dynamite flamenco…there was a kind of dignity to the occasion, visible at the very outset when the crowd was hushed, as if spellbound, by the sheer glamour and spectacle of Ensemble Español's opening, holding back their huzzahs until Dame Libby Komaiko's incandescent take on "Bolero" had ended... exciting, sensual and breathtaking” 

Sid Smith, Chicago-Tribune as part of Dance for Life Benefit Concert at the Harris Theater, Chicago

“I get Goosebumps…absolute harmony…truly spectacular…highly, highly recommend…one of the spectacular performances of Dance for Life I have seen in it’s 20 year history…I cannot rave enough about Ensemble Español and Bolero”
Dean Richards, Entertainment Reporter, WGN Radio and Television, Chicago Harris Theater

The first Dance St. Louis program of the year was a stunner. The artistry and athleticism of the Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater lit up the Touhill Performing Arts Center this weekend with an exhilarating and colorful evening of Spanish Regional, Classical, and Flamenco music and dance. Think of it as a Spanish “Riverdance” but farther from Las Vegas and closer to its roots. The evening concluded with what has apparently become a signature piece for the company, a dazzling realization of Ravel’s “Boléro” accompanied by projected images of drawings and paintings by Picasso.”
Chuck Lavazzi, KDHX St. Louis / Touhill Center for the Performing Arts

Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater lives up to its name, beguiling the crowd with quicksilver choreography steeped in an atmosphere of romance. In doing so, the Chicago-based company transcends geographic boundaries to get to the essence of what dance is all about: emotion in motion. The evening culminated in "Bolero," set to the famously sensuous Ravel composition and choreographed by the company's founder, Dame Libby Komaiko. This was ensemble work at its most transcendent — not just a stage picture, but one bursting with life. 

Calvin Wilson, STL Today / Touhill Center for the Performing Arts