IN THE LIMELIGHT: "Duets For My Valentine"
February 9, 2013 at 8:00pm | Athenaeum Theatre
"Duets" is a fun, romantic evening of dance including performances by Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Culture Shock Chicago, Francisco Avina, C5, BrickHeadZ, Chicago Repertory Ballet, Chicago Tap Theatre, and many more!
By Sid Smith
February arrives, with plenty of valentines, and, it's hoped, little vitriol, as the dance season heats up a bit as a prelude to our warming spring temperatures.
Right off the bat is a big event: the Hamburg Ballet, in its official Chicago debut, performs the full-length "Nijinsky," by Milwaukee-born, Chicago-trained John Neumeier, Feb. 1 and 2 at the Harris Theater. (Miguel Gutierrez, it should be noted, finishes his run through Feb. 3 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, one begun on the last day of January.)
Links Hall plans a busy month, beginning with "Fraction Dance in Progress" Feb. 4, works by various choreographers welcoming audience feedback; "First Woman on the Moon" Feb. 8 and 9, featuring performance artist Elia Arce; "They're Mending the Great Forest Highway" Feb. 15-17, a dance for three men (Matthew Goulish, Jeff Harms and John Rich), with a woman composer (Liz Payne) and woman narrator (Hannah Geil-Neufeld); and "Afterward: In Search of an Epilogue" featuring Trevor Martin and Erica Mott and Mott's "Wasteland, Water, Words" Feb. 22-24. The Dmitri Peskov Dance Theatre presents Peskov in "Tales Told By an Idiot" Feb. 9, 16 and 17 at the Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston Av.
A tad ahead of the ever-romantic event, the annual "Duets for My Valentine" plays Feb. 9 at the Athenaeum Theatre, presented by the Chicago Dance Crash and featuring the work and/or performances of the likes of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Culture Shock Chicago, Chicago Tap Theatre and the inimitable Mattrick Swayze.
The Joffrey Ballet's winter engagement, dubbed "American Legends," runs Feb. 16-24 at the Auditorium Theatre, with the troupe's new work by Houston Ballet head Stanton Welch and revivals from Jerome Robbins ("Interplay"), Gerald Arpino ("Sea Shadow") and Twyla Tharp ("Nine Sinatra Songs").
The University of Chicago's Aspara performs classical Indian dance Feb. 16 at the Smart Museum, 5550 S. Greenwood Av. That busy, mid-month spell includes the married team of choreographer Zoe Scofield and sculptor Juniper Shuey in "A Crack in Everything," an interdisciplinary effort inspired by "The Oresteia," Feb. 14-16 at the Dance Center of Columbia College. Also, "Rising and Reclaiming Life: One Billion Rising," a project fighting violence against women, includes performances by Chicago troupes, singing and a block party at Grace House, 1801 W. Adams St., held outdoors, weather permitting, indoors otherwise.
Following their success transforming serial murder and a world's fair into dance, Ann Reinking and Melissa Thodos team up again for "A Light in the Dark," an original dance inspired by the life of Helen Keller, premiering Feb. 16 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts and returning in early March at the Harris Theater. Natya Dance Theatre presents "Shakti Chakra -- the Energy Cycle," stories from Indian mythology, told through dance, Feb. 16 at Governor's State University in south suburban University Park.
Love--and quite a few other topics as well, it seems--are in the air.