We’re accustomed to seeing distinguished architecture in a certain way. Generally, when we think of award winning buildings, we envision something gleaming, sleek and soaring. Something that makes a statement about power or prestige. Structures that exude success. Buildings that are often 20th and 21st century temples of commerce and accomplishment. A surprising and absorbing …
Kiki & Herb, the sensational renegade cabaret act that broke up for 8 years before reuniting briefly in 2016, make the kind of entertainment that glues itself to your brain’s pleasure points. Nowhere near ordinary, and delightfully unpredictable, they’re everything they claim to be; subversive, boldly aggressive and gloriously original. The Stage Network, an arts …
With the eyes of the world looking so anxiously toward the future, a chance to catch some telling glimpses of the past can prove surprisingly therapeutic; as well as add some perspective to the tension filling so many of our current days. Last year, the Chicago History Museum made a momentous acquisition that, today, lets …
Dance for Life, Chicago’s annual blowout dance extravaganza, was conceived by Chicago Dancers United (CDU) nearly three decades ago in the wake of another frightful contagion. Much more specific in its impact, the AIDs epidemic could be considered even more devastating than our current crisis because its diagnosis, before the development of any viable treatment, …
The personality of one-time-only art exhibits and the feel of a traveling exhibit can vary so wildly, it’s startling. Both can either showcase the creative expression of a single artist or take on a broader view and feature artists who share aesthetic sensibilities. Few celebrate the vision of a single curator; making Duro Olowu’s Seeing …
Passing down a craft, a sustaining livelihood, from generation to generation may be a fading phenomenon, but Dennis Watkins never misses an opportunity to thank his grandfather for sharing his incredible skills with him. Watkins’ granddad not only owned a magic shop, he was also an accomplished sleight of hand magician. And now, thousands of …
Finding something small and quiet and intelligent that outshines just about everything else in its orbit is no small triumph. Which may be why some people call The Midnight Diner, Tokyo Stories a hidden treasure in the Netflix galaxy of video amusements. Premiering in 2016, the series is enjoying a fifth season of telling simple …
Midnight Diner Tokyo Stories, Classic Storytelling at its Best Read More »
Artists can create under nearly any circumstance. Still, the constraints facing them these last few months have pushed them to their limit. Given the rigidity of its standard model, the theater community has had an especially hard time adapting to the limitations Covid has imposed on it. Necessity is demanding new ways of thinking about …
Virtual Play/Actual Breakthrough : State vs. Natasha Banina Read More »
On the surface, few things could seem as removed from one another as what we understand classical dance to be and the tumultuous demands for justice and equality now roaring through city streets in America. The Met doesn’t agree and has raised the profile of one of its past dance events to prove its point. …
Say the word “ballet” and you’re likely get a blank stare. The kind of look that indicates complete non-interest and perhaps even mild irritation. Considered a thing of the past, an institutional relic; few of us give the dance form a chance to show what it is today. One thing it’s not is on stages …