Chicago Dance Supply-Dance Shoes and Apparel for Men, Women and Children-Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

Contact: Jill Chukerman
jchuk@rcn.com

DANCE COLECTIVE SHOWCASES EMERGING WORKS MAY 21–23 AT LINKS HALL

“COLEctive Notions” Features New Choreography by Company Members

Images coming soon!

CHICAGO—To promote the development of new work, The Dance COLEctive (TDC), under the direction of award-winning choreographer and teacher Margi Cole, presents “COLEctive Notions,” a concert program showcasing works created by TDC company members. Performances are May 21–23, 2010 at Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield in Chicago.

Inspired by an earlier collaboration with the musical group AM Brother, Maggie Koller is exploring the concept of “money” in The Fabric (working title), featuring recorded and live improvised music, also by AM Brother. “I’m curious about the different role each dancer feels money plays in her life,” said Koller. “I’m also interested to see how those differences will help to generate movement and build relationships, both between the dancers and between their movement and the music.”

For Mon Confort, Donnette Cannonie is exploring the notion that, despite the fact that we all deal with loss, insecurity and vulnerability, none of us is actually alone. “Finding and making relationships with one another to collectively survive and feel whole again is the main thread of the work.”

Jessica Post is using two paintings by the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky as a starting point for her trio Harmonies. In Instrumental, Olivia May is creating movement from the interplay between the movement of dancers and the “choreography” a sound score imposes on musicians and their instruments. And in Forgiving My Secrets, Molly Grimm-Leasure responds to the idea that “we’ve all done something in our lives that we’re not proud of, but do these actions truly define whether or not we are bad people? No matter the answer, how do we forgive ourselves in the end?”

Cole is committed to the concept of choreographic mentorship. “I have the opportunity to rehearse with these dancers and reap the benefits of their contributions to my own work on a regular basis. Now they have the opportunity to have the same exchange with each other and a little guidance from me. All they have to do is make the work and the company takes care of the rest of the concert production, allowing them to focus just on developing their work. It is my great pleasure to support them in this way.”

Also on the program is Cole’s updated version of her January 2010 work Taking Hold, “a charged romp for eight women, who enter gradually, miming suspicion, and who grow to comfort, console and wrestle in various tropes of conflict and possession,” as described by Sid Smith in the Chicago Tribune. In developing this work, Cole considered such questions as: What do we collect, and why and how do we collect things? What does our collecting mean to ourselves and to others? Is it casual or obsessive? “The unique movement juxtaposed curved spines and seamless fluidity with forceful, angled, swift arm movements, and I became aware of the feminine strength and grace of this company of all women,” wrote Rebecca Crystal, artinmotionblog.blogspot.com.

Margi Cole formed The Dance COLEctive in 1996 to challenge assumptions about how dance is presented, through the use of cutting-edge choreography, innovative collaborations and inspired, creative, site-specific works. In the past 14 years, TDC has contributed to the support of 17 choreographers, 47 dancers and 54 collaborating artists, many of them Illinois artists. TDC produces its own concerts and participates in multi-artist festivals such as The Other Dance Festival, Dance Chicago, Estrogen Fest, Stockyards Women’s Theatre Festival and the Next Dance Festival. Self-produced concerts have taken place at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, Harold Washington Library Theater, Northwestern University, Ruth Page Center and Links Hall. TDC features site-specific work as a part of its annual repertoire, having participated in the Illinois State Fair, Chicago’s Millennium Project and Looptopia, Chicago Symphony Center Day of Music and more. The company conducts several residencies annually, with past hosts including Beloit College, Knox College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Huntsville Community Ballet and studios and schools in Alabama and Tennessee.

Artistic Director Margi Cole has received recognition for her contribution to the field of modern dance through awards including the Illinois Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship, a Chicago Dancemakers Forum grant and the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, which selects leaders in their respective fields to represent the United States on a month-long tour of European countries.

The Dance COLEctive’s 2009–10 season is supported by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, The Alphawood Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, a CityArts 1 Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and many generous individuals.

The Dance COLEctive presents “COLEctive Notions” May 21–23, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m. at Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield, Chicago. Links Hall is convenient to the Brown and Red Line stop at Belmont and the Red Line Addison stop in Lakeview. General admission is $18, $14 for students and seniors. To purchase tickets, visit LinksHall.org or call 773-281-0824. For more information about The Dance COLEctive, visit dancecolective.com.

Where can I dance in Chicago?