Laguna Beach Dance Festival

River North Dance Chicago | April 12, 2012

Highly skilled and emotive dancers, stimulating music, and bold, commanding choreography are the hallmarks of this jazz-based contemporary company, led by Artistic Director Frank Chaves. Founded in 1989 by four visionary dancers/choreographers, River North Dance Chicago has established itself as one of Chicago’s leading dance companies, and one of the most popular national repertory companies, receiving critical acclaim in the U.S. and internationally. River North concerts include several works spanning a wide variety- offering performances enjoyed by seasoned dance patrons as well as those having their first experience with concert dance. Chaves aims for audiences to feel the complete spectrum of human emotions in a single evening, and leaves them feeling joyful and exhilarated at the end of each program. RNDC has toured extensively in Illinois, throughout the United States and, in 2008, embarked on its first European tour.

River North Dance Chicago has a varied, eclectic, and powerful jazz-based contemporary repertoire. Core works by Artistic Director Frank Chaves are augmented with an array of pieces by nationally and internationally renowned choreographers. Chaves strives to explore new types of dance to keep the mix new, but is careful to never let the company stray from its jazz roots. “What we’ve still kept from jazz is that entertainment value. You don’t just see it, you feel it.”, says Chaves. The company has acquired and commissioned original works by Robert Battle, Lauri Stallings, Sidra Bell, Sabrina and Ruben Veliz, Daniel Ezralow, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Ashley Roland, Randy Duncan, Julia Rhoads, Harrison McEldowney, Kevin Iega Jeff, and former Co-Artistic Director Sherry Zunker, among others.

“…this is one sleek, confident, athletic, daring, versatile company.” – Chicago Sun-Times

“It was clear that River North is solidly established, operating at the top of its eclectic, audience-friendly game.” – MusicalAmerica.com

“From high drama to low comedy, from torch songs to lyrical love duets, and from abstract modernism to jazzy ballroom style—River North…is a contemporary company that can do it all, and do it with technical splendor to boot.” – Chicago Sun Times

“River North Dance Chicago pulled out all the pyrotechnic stops. The performance left an indelible montage of high-octane body percussion, lush lines and evocative curves.”
– SeeChicagoDance.com

Ballet X | April 13-15, 2012

BalletX is an intensely innovative and adventurous company that produces sophisticated, striking choreography, expanding the vocabulary of classical dance for all audiences. Recognizing the synergistic power of artistic collaboration, BalletX taps into the creativity and passion of a diverse pool of choreographers. The outcomes are often surprising and compelling.

Reviewers agree that BalletX brings a contemporary and sophisticated sensibility to the art form, infusing its work with a new sense of imagination, emotion and intimacy. Philadelphia-based BalletX is recognized locally and nationally as a cohesive company dedicated to commissioning daring work, demonstrating the endless possibilities of ballet and the diverse visions of its artists. Award-winning Co-artistic Directors Matthew Neenan and Christine Cox actively seek to expand the boundaries of ballet both by choreographing new works themselves and by building a repertory of works by emerging talents and established choreographers from the national and international dance communities.

Since the fall of 2007, BalletX has had the honor of being the Resident Dance Company of Philadelphia’s The Wilma Theater. In its first three seasons at The Wilma, the Company presented 21 World Premieres, including interdisciplinary multimedia work incorporating ballet, spoken text, video, originally composed music and imaginative set design.

Recognized nationally and internationally, BalletX has been awarded grants by The Jerome Robbins Foundation’s New Essential Works (NEW) Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as well as Dance Advance, a program of the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. The Company has been invited to perform in the Festival de Ballet in Cali, Columbia, Ballet EXPO, in Seoul, South Korea, the Spring to Dance Festival in St. Louis, Missouri, the Laguna Dance Festival, Old Town Temecula Community Theater, and the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, in California. They also regularly perform in college, university and community venues across the United States, always seeking the highest quality experience for audiences, dancers, choreographers and artistic collaborators.

“the evening’s highlight” - Janet Anderson, Philadelphia City Paper

“BalletX’s unique performances definitely live up to their reputation, with exceptionally engaging dancers and their limitless endurance and ability. The Fall Series is a must-see!”
- Sarah Thiebaud, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTCM) blogger

“Wildly imaginative, totally zonkers, always beautifully performed —
this was BalletX at its finest.”
- Janet Anderson, Philadelphia City Paper

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago | September 8-9, 2012

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, under the artistic direction of Glenn Edgerton since 2009, celebrates 34 years as one of the most original and forward-thinking forces in contemporary dance. The core purpose of Hubbard Street is to bring artists, art and audiences together to enrich, engage, educate, and transform lives through the experience of dance. Hubbard Street serves as an emblem of the city’s international cultural profile and continues its role as a leader in the field of dance, pushing the art forward by creating new works, diversifying repertoire, and cultivating the next generation of dancers and choreographers. Today, the main company is comprised of 17 dancers who display unparalleled versatility and virtuosity. One of the only American dance companies to operate year-round, Hubbard Street continues to produce bold and passionate performances in Chicago, at national and international celebrated dance venues, and through some of the most cutting-edge dance programs at prestigious universities around the country. While many contemporary dance peers are single-choreographer organizations, Hubbard Street has always been a repertory company, representing numerous choreographers and styles. Continually expanding its eclectic repertoire with work by leading national and international choreographers, the company contributes to the art form’s evolution by developing new choreographic talent and collaborating with artists in music, visual art and theatre.  Hubbard Street has performed works by world-renowned choreographers including Nacho Duato, Jirí Kylián, Aszure Barton, Ohad Naharin, Twyla Tharp, Jorma Elo, Johan Inger, and Alonzo King.  The company in its entirety has grown to be recognized as a leader in the creation and development of new choreography, unique collaborations and innovative production concepts. Its importance is based both as a repository of work from some of the 20th and 21st century’s best contemporary choreographers and as a commissioning agent of new works, having commissioned and presented almost 200 new and acquired dance works throughout its history.  Critically acclaimed for its exuberant, athletic and innovative repertoire, Hubbard Street is always changing and evolving while maintaining the highest artistic standards. Additionally, Hubbard Street now offers a Summer Intensive, which provides concentrated training in ballet and modern technique classes, repertoire rehearsals, dance history lectures and health and wellness presentations to pre-professional dancers from across the nation.

“Chicago is lucky…to call the glorious movers and shakers of Hubbard Street its own.”
– Los Angeles Times

“Take a deep breath, because Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is going to
take your breath away.” – The Washington Post

“Hubbard Street Dance Chicago ought to bottle itself as a cure for the ills of the era.”
– The New York Times

“One thing must be made abundantly clear: The Hubbard Street dancers
are simply phenomenal.” – Chicago Sun-Times

Alonzo King LINES Ballet | September 8-9, 2012

Alonzo King (Choreographer, Artistic Director) has been called a visionary choreographer who is altering the way we look at ballet.  King calls his works ‘thought structures’ created by the manipulation of energies that exist in matter through laws, which govern the shapes and movement directions of everything that exists.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet of San Francisco is a celebrated contemporary ballet company that has been guided since 1982 by its uniquely global artistic vision. Collaborating with noted composers, musicians, and visual artists, Alonzo King creates works that draw on a diverse set of deeply rooted cultural traditions and imbue classical ballet with new expressive potential. Alonzo King’s visionary choreography is renowned for its ability to connect audiences to a profound sense of shared humanity—of vulnerability and tenderness, but also of furious abandon and exhilarating freedom.

The accomplishments of the performing company are matched by the quality and reach of its arts education programs. Alonzo King LINES Ballet continues its commitment to dance education and community involvement through the Alonzo King LINES Dance Center, established in 1989, now one of the largest dance facilities on the West Coast offering over 80 open classes to adults and teenagers. In 2001 the LINES Ballet School was established in order to develop the potential of young dancers through our year-round and summer programs. Alonzo King LINES Ballet embarked on a partnership with the Dominican University of California in fall 2006, inaugurating the LINES Ballet/Dominican BFA program in dance. This is the only joint BFA program in the country to be led by an active, world-renowned master choreographer.

LINES Ballet nurtures dynamic artistry and the development of authentic, creative expression through dance. Dedicated to exploring the possibilities of movement from a global perspective, the company performs original works of contemporary ballet created by choreographer Alonzo King. LINES Ballet is unique, not only because of the way it transcends and renews traditional ballet, but also because it is an American ballet company whose choreographer actively develops new work with other artists from diverse disciplines and cultures. Alonzo King understands ballet as a science — founded on universal, geometric principles of energy and evolution — and develops a new language of movement from its classical forms and techniques. LINES Ballet shares its vision of transformative, revelatory dance through performances and outreach activities worldwide, as well as by cultivating the gifts of developing dancers through the LINES Ballet School, the Joint BFA Program with Dominican University of California, and the Alonzo King LINES Dance Center.

“Alonzo King is one of the few, true Ballet Masters of our times. His intimacy with Ballet’s multiple histories has made his choreography rich with the complex refractions that demonstrate a full command of the art’s intricacies…”
- William Forsythe, Frankfurt Ballet

“(Alonzo King’s) works exemplify innovation, artistry and depth, and reveal him to be an artist of exceptional talent…He gives a new look to people and steps we thought we knew.”
- Violette Verdy, Former Director, Paris Opera Ballet

“I watched him in our rehearsals and you see how meticulous and what a perfectionist he is – how clear he is on what he wanted. And the movement he elicited from the dancers -
it was just so delicious, I had never seen them dance that way before.”
- Judith Jamison