The year 2022 was designated the “Year of Chicago Dance” by the city of Chicago, drawing a commitment from the mayor and several partner institutions to increase investment, collaboration, participation, and focus on dance in all its forms in Chicago. But if institutions are “humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain […]
Tag: Merce Cunningham
Posted inArts & Culture
Bridging the spiritual and political divide in I Hunger for You
Kimberly Bartosik/daela make their Chicago debut.
Posted inMusic
John Cage’s treasures are hiding in plain sight
The largest single archive devoted to influential experimental composer John Cage lives in a library at Northwestern—and it goes a lot deeper than its famous Beatles lyric sheets.
Posted inMusic
Rap duo Free Snacks celebrate their funky, sample-heavy debut
Rap duo Free Snacks celebrate their funky, sample-heavy debut, CabinFever’s site-specific Merce Cunningham tribute becomes an album, and more.
Posted inArts & Culture
Faye Driscoll gives a welcome flip of the bird to all things stuffy
Expect to have fun at Thank You for Coming: Play.
Posted inBlogs
The multidisciplinary Tesseract explores queer identity through the lens of science fiction
Dance and video—both 3-D and real-time—combine in this MCA show featuring veterans of Merce Cunningham Dance.
Posted inArts & Culture
The MCA’s Merce Cunningham retrospective spotlights the art of collaboration
“Merce Cunninghman: Common Time” considers one of the 20th century’s most significant choreographers.
Posted inBlogs
An Evening of Dance With MacArthur Fellows puts genius onstage
In honor of the 35th anniversary of the MacArthur Fellowships, a free performance featuring five fellows from the dance world.
Posted inBlogs
The Chicago Dancing Festival is fully booked, but there are still free shows to see
Tickets for the free performances have been snapped up, but shows at Navy Pier and Pritzker Pavilion don’t require advance reservations.
Posted inBlogs
Amid Fest shows midlife dancers getting not only older but better
The Links Hall festival featuring dancers Deborah Hay, Bob Eisen, and Bebe Miller, among others, runs through January 31.
Posted inBlogs
This week in experimental cinema: John Smith in person, dance films at the MCA, and more
The city is full of avant-garde film screenings over the next six days.
Posted inArts & Culture
V-Day Issue: A duo that met on the dance floor
V-Day Issue: Aay Preston-Myint and Colin Dickson’s first date “didn’t just have a third wheel, it had 20.”
Posted inArts & Culture
The Disembodied Body
Four collectives reveal a virtual universe of form and movement.
Posted inArts & Culture
Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak
The rounded shapes and rolling motions of Molly Shanahan’s new solo piece, My Name Is a Blackbird, remind me of Merce Cunningham—though they bear no resemblance to his spiky, tense forms. Both choreographers create a dreamy, trancelike state, allowing the viewer to zone in and out of the performance, switching between focused perception and meditation. […]