Eisenhower Dance Ensemble, by Laurie Eisenhower

Eisenhower Dance Ensemble has performed in Chicago a few times, but this is our first production presented at the Auditorium Theatre....and, of course, we are thrilled to be presented in such a fabulous theatre! The first half of our program will consist of three dances from our current repertory, including a fabulous premiere by Chicago choreographer Ron de Jesus. The second half of the program will be our highly successful Motown in Motion production. Motown is a project that began over ten years ago. As a Detroit-based dance company, I was trying to come up with a project that would celebrate Michigan and the Detroit community. Saluting the glory days of Motown music seemed like the perfect idea. 

We created the Motown production by commissioning nationally known choreographers to set works on the company, including Bill DeYoung, Ginger Thatcher, Gregory Patterson, Lindsay Thomas, Stephanie Pizzo, and Chicago's own Joel Hall. Our goal was not to imitate the original Motown dances, but to use those dances and the music as inspiration for new work. We now have over twenty Motown dances in our repertory and have selected ten to perform in Chicago. This version includes dances to a wonderful array of Motown hits by artists such as The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. The end result is super fun—the kind of show that has you dancing and moving in your seats. We can't wait to share our work with Chicago! 

Cheers, Laurie Eisenhower