Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre presents New Works in MUSIC+MOVEMENT FESTIVAL

By Wilfredo Rivera, Artistic Director of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (CRDT) redefines "performance ensemble" by fusing contemporary dance, live music and visual art onstage, creating multi-sensory excitement. The company will take you through an inspiring and moving landscape by exploring and celebrating the cultural diversity of contemporary American life.

Cerqua Rivera's MUSIC+MOVEMENT FESTIVAL performance features CRDT’s solo violinist and composer James Sanders, composer and vocalist Joe Cerqua, and music director Stu Greenspan.

The performance includes 10 dancers, 7 musicians and live visual work. CRDT will premiere two new pieces for the festival:

"Come to Light" features an original composition by Mr. Sanders and choreography by CRDT choreographer and soloist Raphaelle Ziemba.

“Lagrimas Negras” is inspired by the1929 composition by Miguel Matamoros and choreography by CRDT Artistic Director Wilfredo Rivera.

Other works being performed include:

The haunting excerpts from “Corner Sketches”- A tribute to Miles Davis (2009).

 “CAFÉ 1930” (2011) is CRDT’s abstract tribute to the evolution of the tango through the 20th century. Music composed by Astor Piazolla, with choreography by Rapahelle Ziemba.

“Dos Gardenias” (2008), a sensual, aching dance inspired by the Buena Vista Social Club’s rendition.

For further questions about the program you may contact Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre at:

crdtoffice@cerquarivera.org or call (312) 243-9310

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Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre with James Sanders, Stu Greenspan, and Joe Cerqua

MUSIC + MOVEMENT FESTIVAL

Venue: Katten / Landau Studio
Dates: Saturday, March 2
Times: 7:30 pm
Price: $10 Adult - $5 Student

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (CRDT) fuses contemporary dance, live music, and visual art onstage, creating a multisensory engagement focusing on different segments of society. CRDT will be accompanied by noted jazz violinist James Sanders, CRDT Musical Director Stu Greenspan, and Composer-in-Residence/vocalist Joe Cerqua.

Learn more about the MUSIC + MOVEMENT FESTIVAL.

Seats may not be available at the door.


Box Office: 50 E. Congress Pkwy. | Phone: 800.982.ARTS (2787) 

To buy a pass by phone: call 312.341.2357.

Dance in the Land of Milk and Honey [Part 1 of 2]

By Jennifer Turner, Chief Operating Officer/General Manager

In early December, I joined over one hundred arts professionals representing thirty-five countries assembled in Tel Aviv for the 2012 International Exposure. Over six days, we were able to see thirty-nine local dance pieces presented primarily at the Suzanne Dellah Center. Other venues included the funky Tmuna Theatre in Tel Aviv, the Yasmeen Godder Studio in Jaffa and Hangar Adama, once a deserted industrial hanger deep in the Negev Desert and now transformed into a harmonious dance center.

Tel Aviv overlooking Jaffa

The Suzanne Dellah Center, home to Batsheva Dance Companies, the Inbal Onto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company and the Oran Porat Theatre for Children & Youth is located in the Neve Tzedek neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Neve Tzedek reminded me a bit of the Gold Coast in Chicago. Cute boutiques, restaurants, residential, many baby strollers and the beautiful Suzanne Dellah campus. The center has three performance halls (Suzanne Dellah Hall, Yershalmy Hall & Inbal Hall), studios, outdoor performance space, fountains, orange trees, restaurants and ice shops. There is a main square and a small plaza with benches and trees that attracts people (and pets!) day and night. The Center’s Director, Yair Vardi is a former Batsheva dancer and remembers performing at the Auditorium Theatre with the company in 1972.

I was pleased by the quality and depth of Israeli dance. We saw some amazing performances and the Exposure was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with the dancers, choreographers and artistic directors. Most of the artists attended the attendee receptions and went to their colleague’s performances. They were excited to meet so many arts professionals from all over the world and happy to spend time discussing their work. The dance community is very small but they seem supportive of each other. Dance in Israel receives funding from the government as well as local funding from the city. Companies must be established for two years and perform a minimum number of public performances to be eligible for funding. Many of the companies work out of Tel Aviv but some base in Jerusalem or opt to open centers in more rural areas. Since the country is so small (about the size of New Jersey), touring opportunities within Israel is more limited and companies are focused on international exposure.    

Check back next week for information about the dance companies that I saw during my trip, including links to their websites and videos! See a few more photos from the trip below.

Tmuna Theatre

Hangar Adama

Mitzpe Ramon

A Message from Variety, the Children's Charity of Illinois

Hi!

My name is Mike Murillo, and I’m one of the event coordinators at Variety, the Children’s Charity of Illinois. Variety is really excited to be one of the sponsors for the AXIS Dance Company’s performance at the Auditorium Theatre on November 19th and 20th.

Variety’s mission is to provide funding and services for programs that strive to alleviate suffering and improve the quality of life for children who are mentally and physically challenged, abused, sick, homeless or underprivileged. Our “Kids on the Go” program is dedicated to helping children with disabilities participate in some of the same activities as their able-bodied friends, such as bike riding, sports and dance. I enjoy seeing young people with disabilities just as active as anyone else!

As a recent addition to the Variety team, I was not educated on physically integrated dance, but after attending the AXIS panel discussion last Wednesday, at Access Living, I was really moved and gained a huge an appreciation for the art form. What I learned was that physically integrated dance is about the beauty of the human form and appreciating the movement of each individual. The individuals performing are interested in being seen for how their art inspires people’s perceptions of the opportunities the human body can create, regardless of physical ability.

I am inspired by the philosophy and mindset that physically integrated dance hopes to shift the way that society looks at disability. Whereas traditionally a lot of society sees physically disabled individuals as more helpless and less capable than able-bodied people, physically integrated dance is an avenue to the possibility that we as humans are all capable of amazingly creative and technical ability. I really believe that physically integrated dance, and activities like it, can begin to shift the society’s perspective of what being disabled is, from a medical view to a more social view, including looking at physical handicaps through the lens of social barriers, attitudes towards disability, and possibilities to better integrate individuals into society, which is also a goal of Variety of Illinois.

Finally, I’m really excited to see the AXIS Dance Company perform. They are one of the premier integrated dance companies in the US and it is going to be an honor to see and support them at the Auditorium Theater. I really hope that you join me in seeing the performance!

If you would like to continue the dialog, please “like” Variety on Facebook at www.facebook.com/varietyofillinois.

So You Think THIS is Dance? [video]

By Lizzie Leopold

See below for a special pre-sale offer.

I’ve always wondered, with a hint of jealousy, why we struggle to fill a theater the way we fill sports stadiums. How do the arts get that kind of continued, dedicated fan base? FOX’s smash hit So You Think You Can Dance has certainly taken on that challenge whole heartedly and created the Super Bowl of dance shows.

When I heard that AXIS Dance Company would perform on tonight’s (Thursday June 30) show I was shocked, thrilled and nervous all at once! AXIS is an Oakland-based company known as one of the nation’s leading ensembles to feature dancers with and without disabilities. Wheelchairs and prosthetics become fully integrated body parts like any leg or shoulder. AXIS is award winning, inspiring and absolutely unexpected. AXIS company members Sonsheree Giles and Rodney Bell will perform the duet To Color Me Different, choreographed by Alex Ketley.

Whether you are a dedicated SYTYCD viewer or have never watched before, this is an important moment for dance and, in my opinion, a significant change in course for the show. The millions of viewers will have the opportunity to think more deeply about what dance is, what a dancer’s body is and where the possibilities lie. I will be holding my breath, hoping that the judges, the audience, the camera men and the producers recognize this as an expanding of horizons.

So, tune in tonight to So You Think You Can Dance, June 30^th at 8pm/7 central on FOX. But more importantly, come see AXIS Dance Company perform live at the Auditorium Theatre in November. Sit in the packed theater. Watch the plush, gold curtain rise and experience dance collectively with the people around you. It will be less shiny, no rock star lighting and no screaming fans. But maybe, you’ll be able to see the dance a little clearer. Be a little closer. Hear the breathing and feel the shared energy. And if an episode of So You Think You Can Dance brought you to the theater, then I owe a great debt to network television and split leaps everywhere.

Special Pre-Sale for One Week Only
Pre-sale tickets are available Thursday, June 30 at 9:00 am through Wednesday, July 6 at 10:00 pm.
Use code DANCE when purchasing pre-sale tickets (limit to 8 tickets).
Pre-sale tickets are available online ONLY at ticketmaster.com/auditorium.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on July 11.

Lizzie Leopold is a Chicago choreographer and dance scholar. She is the Artistic Director of the Leopold Group and holds degrees from the University of Michigan (BFA in Dance) and New York University (MA in Performance Studies). Lizzie is a PhD candidate at Northwestern University, writing about the intersection of dance and business.

Video - frame of view Rehearsal Footage Plus Didy Veldman's Thoughts

Listen to choreograher Didy Veldman talk about her work frame of view and her creative process.

Cedar Lake Program Notes

If you want to know more about the pieces Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet will be performing here next month, here are the choreographers' notes.

Sunday, Again is first of all a piece that tries to reflect the diversity in Johann Sebastian Bach’s music. Abstract movement patterns are woven together in fugal ways, not unlike the baroque way of assembling melodic phrases and ornamentations. Secondly, and on an associative level, it thematically treats the domestic jungle of luxury problems and gender frictions. As the title suggests - there is always the irritating and inevitable Sunday which forces couples to test their coexistence abilities. Leisure time is not good for certain types of relationships.
-Jo Strømgren

Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue: I love the word “rescue.” It captures a whole story in a single word. Similarly, the body can convey narrative through the simplest of actions. For me, this work for Cedar Lake was an act of excavation. After creating the choreography, I searched within it for images that specifically evoked rescue. There are many of them. They exist inside the dancing like fragments of an untold narrative. I suppose the presence of rescue in this work is twofold, as I tried to liberate and expose these images for brief contemplation before releasing them back into the dance: saving and holding one picture of rescue in each of the ten duets.
-Crystal Pite

frame of view: I am investigating the physical movement a particular emotion may take, how it manifests itself in our body, how long that physicality may last, and the energy that it creates. By creating different interior and exterior scenes, and utilizing a varied musical landscape, I hope to create an accessible work with a touch of irony and humor.
– Didy Veldman

Cedar Lake Video - on "Ten Duets"

In this video, one of Cedar Lake's dancers talks about Crystal Pite's Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue, one of the pieces that will be performed November 14 & 15.

Miami City Ballet's Jennifer Kronenberg on the cover of October's Dance Magazine!

Don't miss cover girl Jennifer Kronenberg and her fellow "Superhuman Dancers" from Miami City Ballet this weekend!

Miami City Ballet and Cedar Lake on sale this morning

Single tickets for Miami City Ballet and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet go on sale this morning (Monday, June 22) at 10am. Tickets will be available at the box office (50 E. Congress), at Ticketmaster.com and by phone at 800.982.ARTS(2787).

BUT REMEMBER - you get the best deals if you subscribe! Three show subscriptions are as low as $72 if you subscribe by July 1, so don't delay! Visit http://www.auditoriumtheatre.org/ for subscription information.

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet video.

Check out video of the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet's performance of "frame of view" by Didy Veldman.

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet will perform at the Auditorium November 14 and 15, 2009. We're currently renewing subscriptions and groups of 10 or more. New subscriptions go on sale May 18. Single tickets will be available in June for the fall shows, and September for the winter and spring. Please call 312.431.2357 for more information on subscriptions and groups.

2009-2010 Season Announced

On Friday, the Auditorium announced our 2009-2010 line-up! Here are the details:

• Miami City Ballet, October 2-4


• Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, November 14 & 15


• Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah, January 16 & 17


• Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez, March 13 & 14


• Tchaikovsky Ballet Sleeping Beauty, March 20 & 21


• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, March 24-28

Right now, we're doing subscription renewals and groups of 10 or more. New subscriptions go on sale May 18. Single tickets will be available in June for the fall shows, and September for the winter and spring. For information on subscriptions and groups, call 312.431.2357.

Photo: Miami City Ballet.

NDT - Kylian's Wings of Wax

Nederlands Dans Theater I is making a rare Chicago appearance June 16 and 17. Their program will include Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon's Shoot the Moon, Jiri Kylian's Wings of Wax (above) and Crystale Pite's The Second Person. Tickets are available now - don't miss it!

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.

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

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.

"...the most important event of an already landmark season"

Zachary Whittenburg has great things to say about the upcoming Batsheva engagement in the Windy City Times this week. He joins Time Out Chicago's Asimina Chremos and the Trib's Sid Smith in looking forward to the show!

Batsheva Dance Company Video

Don't miss the Batsheva Dance Company on February 7 and 8, 2009 as they perform Deca Dance. This world-renowned contemporary dance ensemble returns to Chicago after over 35 years.

Tickets available in four easy ways:

Online: ticketmaster.com
Phone: 312.902.1500
In person: Auditorium Box Office located at 50 E. Congress Pkwy, Chicago, IL. Open Mon-Fri, noon-6 p.m. Visit auditoriumtheatre.org for holiday box office hours.
Groups 10+: 312.431.2357

Single Tickets Go On sale

Single tickets for the Kirov Ballet and Margaret Garner will go on sale to the general public June 23, 2008.

You will not want to miss the Kirov Ballet perform Giselle October 2-5, 2008 at the Auditorium. The Kirov's bravura soloists, graceful corps de ballet and stellar orchestra are celebrated by ballet fans worldwide. Prima ballerina, Diana Vishneva will perform as Giselle on October 2 and 5.

The Chicago premiere of the heart-wrenching opera, Margaret Garner, will be November 1-9. You will want to watch both Denyce Graves and Tracie Luck bring the fugitive slave, Margaret Garner, to life. This new American opera is in two acts is based on one of the most significant fugitive slave stories in pre-Civil War America.

Click here to learn more about the upcoming Auditorium season.

Four easy ways to purchase tickets:
Online: ticketmaster.com Phone: 312-902-1500
Groups (10+): 312-431-2357
In person: Auditorium box office, 50 East Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL
60605; open from noon-6 p.m.

Remember, save 20% if you order subscriptions before June 20. Save 10% on subscriptions after June 20. Several subscription packages are available. Call 312-431-2357 and become a subscriber today!