Movers and Shakers
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SHAYNA SWANSON of Aloft Aerial Dance created a piece a year ago called Rolling Blackouts, lit only by battery-powered flashlights and lanterns, which gave the cast’s antics on rings, trapezes, silks, and bungee cords a moody sideshow quality. In October she teams up with Strange Tree Theatre Group in a piece that’ll transform the Aloft space into a haunted house.
INSTRUMENTS OF MOVEMENT, headed by James Morrow and Raphaelle Ziemba, specializes in hip-hop-inflected modern dance. For an upcoming project they team up with Nick Cave, head of the fashion department at the Art Institute, employing his “soundsuits”—raffia-covered, African-inspired costumes with knitted and crocheted elements, including masks.
The Dance Center of Columbia College (1306 S. Michigan, 312-344-8300, dancecenter.org) brings in modern dance companies from all over the world, and at affordable prices ($22 for students); this year, between September and March, it introduces choreographers from Great Britain, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, and South Africa. TheMuseum of Contemporary Art (220 E. Chicago, 312-397-4010,mcachicago.org) includes dance in its even more affordable performance series ($10 for students)—this season, Liz Lerman, Barcelona’s Tapeplas, Melbourne’s Chunky Move, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. The Harris Theater for Music and Dance (205 E. Randolph, 312-334-7777, harristheaterchicago.org) hosts high-profile troupes, including Hubbard Street and the New York City Ballet this fall. So does the Auditorium Theatre (50 E. Congress, 312-902-1500, auditoriumtheatre.org), the Joffrey’s home and this weekend the venue for Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez and later in the season two Russian ballet troupes, the Kirov and the Eifman. Though prices at the Harris and the Auditorium can get high, there’s usually a wide range.
