Ballet 5:8 presents Beyond the Nutcracker, a take on Tchaikovsky with a twist: there’s no Clara, but instead we meet Emma, a young girl growing up in the shadow of WWII. Artistic director Julianna Rubio Slager’s choreography gets away from some of the problematic imagery in the Chinese dance by using the motif of the […]
Tag: ballet
Posted inAgenda
Little Village farming, Kyiv City Ballet, Tone Deaf anniversary, and more
All hands on deck! Little Village Environmental Justice Organization is hosting a volunteer day at their farm site (31st and Albany). From 8 AM-noon, they’re inviting people to spend some time getting to know them and the land. What a great way to soak up the last of the season’s sunshine, right? Be sure to […]
Posted inMusic
Tate McRae is happy to sing sad pop
You’d think Tate McRae would have a lot to be happy about: at age 16 she’s already a successful ballet dancer who’s appeared on the TV show So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation. She’s also started a singing career, releasing videos to her own YouTube channel—which has 1.98 million subscribers. Nonetheless, her […]
Posted inArts & Culture
‘Restrain’ appears static, but the works (and the viewers) dance
Brendan Fernandes’s bronze sculptures congeal pain and pleasure.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Pygmalion Effect takes the classic makeover myth to the ballroom
Eifman Ballet views the transformation through the lens of dance.
Posted inArts & Culture
Nureyev tells the epic story of the dancer’s extraordinary life and tumultuous times
“He was Mick Jagger before Mick Jagger.”
Posted inArts & Culture
The ABT arrives at the Auditorium Theatre with the surreal Whipped Cream
Mark Ryden’s set and costumes engage with childhood fears while delivering a steady stream of whimsy.
Posted inArts & Culture
What did a 1930s ballet say about cultural appropriation in modernist Chicago?
La Guiablesse was imagined by and starring a white woman who choreographed the piece for her city’s most talented black dancers.
Posted inArts & Culture
Akram Khan and the English National Ballet bring Giselle into the 21st century
“In order to destroy something you have to create something.”
Posted inArts & Culture
The Joffrey premieres a brand-new Anna Karenina
The ballet company built its Tolstoy adaptation from the ground up.
Posted inBlogs
Speaker Mike Madigan fires aide for alleged sexual harassment, and other Chicago news
Also, CPS alters plans to shut down three Englewood high schools over the summer.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Joffrey’s Modern Masters could—and should—do better
A mixed bill shows off contemporary ballet’s ills.
Posted inArts & Culture
People Issue 2016: Homer Hans Bryant, the guru of hiplet
Alexandra Victoria Bryant | Arthur Mitchell | ballet | Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center | CMDC | dance | Dance Theatre of Harlem | Dearborn Station | hip-hop | hiplet | Hiplet Ballerinas | Homer Hans Bryant | Jacob’s Pillow | Maria Tallchief | rap
Posted inArts & Culture
The Joffrey’s new Nutcracker spellbinds amid the snow
Christopher Wheeldon’s update of the classic puts class consciousness at the forefront, to illuminating effect.
Posted inBlogs
Playing dress-up with a ballerina and fashion blogger
The blogger behind Mermaid Waves says, “I was raised to be interested in fashion.”