Listening to Tooma Abts in interviews, you’re struck by the calm of her presence. A German expat living in London, her English is excellent and her speech exceptionally articulate as she explains her approach to her art. Using words like “mood” and “feeling” and explaining the near spiritual dialog she undergoes with each piece, Abts …
There’s something startlingly unique about a Gus Giordano dance performance. And it’s not always about what’s happening on stage. If you’re in the right spot with an ideal vantage point to observe, you’ll see a profusion of contained excitement, simmering anticipation and flat out joy that just doesn’t exist in other arts space. Hugs and …
Giordano Dance Chicago Supercharges Harris Audience Read More »
Some have tried to shove disco and house into a tiny box and dismiss them as insignificant sounds of an age. That’s their right. But for others who understand the vastness of music’s capability to release, restore and fulfill, these two musical genres were and are Rosetta stones unlocking the key to earthly nirvana. They …
Paradise Garage Inspirations Will Take You There Read More »
As Artistic Director for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Glenn Edgerton often finds himself on the lookout for choreography that helps his company fill a particular niche. One that is different, diverse and unique. A longtime admirer of respected contemporary choreographer William Forsythe, Hubbard Street has extensively performed Forsythe’s pioneering vision of contemporary dance that integrates …
If Kara Cooney’s explosion of revelations, insights and ruminations are any indication what learning can be like outside the classroom, hordes of hungry minds should be stampeding the Auditorium Theater’s doors for each of its National Geographic Live series. This year the theater is conducting a yearlong run dedicated to inspirational women. Cooney, a professor …
The number of significant jazz festivals held throughout the country each year easily bubble up into the hundreds. When you consider their proliferation across the globe as well as here in the United States, that number could easily slip into the thousands. From the behemoths like Newport and Monterey to that massive all-inclusive juggernaut at …
Just on the western collar of Chicago, there’s a beautiful exercise in bravery being re-enacted just about every weekend this month. The one woman show, Big Giant Love, is part of a series the Madison Street Theatre in Oak Park is mounting this season showcasing the “power of one”. In these doubting quivery times, …
For the past three years, Roosevelt University has been presenting discussions on issues that vex the national consciousness as catalysts launching its new academic year. The challenges of providing effective and comprehensive health care, the struggle to insure the nation’s law enforcement agencies institute color blind policing standards, and the unflagging efforts to reform the …
Eric Holder, Jr. Keynotes RU’s Annual American Dream Reconsidered Conference Read More »
The Art Institute took the name of its arrestingly interesting exhibit of black and white photographs, Never A Lovely So Real: Photography and Film in Chicago, 1950 – 1980, from a Nelson Algren book, Chicago: City on the Make, where he mulls his love/hate regard for the city. The show sagely examines the duality of …
Never a Lovely So Real a Highly Engaging Look Back Read More »
Phillipe Cohen Solal, one of the co-founders of the exciting and innovative Gotan Project joins forces with longtime collaborator Christophe Chassol to produce a marvelous summer ode to flirtatious love. Building the song in layers that has hip hop rolling in perfect provocative harmony with the kind rat pack cool Dean Martin would find imminently …