With the Chicago Dancing Festival just around the corner, we wanted to give you a quick “behind the scenes” look from our Chicago Dancing Festival Blogger Program! Leading up to the Festival, our Partner Bloggers have been attending, reporting on, video recording and photographing the process. We wanted to share some highlights!
Rogue Ballerina attended the rehearsal of Giordano Dance Chicago with choreographer Alexander Ekman. According to her blog, “[Ekman’s] work – Two Become Three – was originally created last year on dancers at Julliard where the Chicago Dancing Festival co-founder Lar Lubovitch saw the piece and commissioned it for the opening night of this year’s festival.” Read the rest of her observations and reporting here.
Giordano dancers Martin Ortiz & Maeghan McHale work with choreographer Alexander Ekman. Photo by Joel Solari.
Rogue Ballerina also spoke with dancer Amber Nuemann of the Joffrey Ballet. Nuemann will be performing Forsythe’s In the Middle in this year’s Chicago Dancing program on Monday, August 20th at the Harris Theater. Read her interview with Nuemann here!
We are very proud to partner with Keigwin + Company in the creation of Bolero Chicago to perform during the opening night of the Chicago Dancing Festival. Several of our partner bloggers attended the Bolero Community Workshops that took place for Chicago volunteers to come and learn about Bolero and participate in a workshop in preparation for the rehearsals. Read from our music blogger, Contrapuntist, here, and our art appreciation blogger, Scott Silberstein of HMS Media, here!
Following the Bolero workshop are the Bolero rehearsals, currently underway! One of our bloggers, D Underbelly, who writes from the dance audience perspective, attended one of the rehearsals along with our photo blogger, ChicagoCeli. Read D Underbelly’s moving account of the rehearsal here, and check out some of the photos taken from ChicagoCeli below!
And the Festival isn’t just performances! On Tuesday, August 21st, we will be screening several dance films throughout the day at the Museum of Contemporary Art. This day-long event is curated by Sarah Best. Our family blogger, part of Chicago Now, spoke with Sarah about the movie program. Read her interview here!
We are thrilled to be working with such fantastic bloggers to bring you a behind-the-scenes look into the Festival and beyond. We will be posting links to their coverage during the Festival as well, so you can follow along.
And we hope you will also, of course, attend the Chicago Dancing Festival beginning this coming Monday! If you were unable to reserve your tickets, you can visit the performance spaces the day of each show and try to obtain standby tickets. You also can come to our Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday events and performances, which don’t require tickets. Please see our Events Page for details!
Chicago Dancing Festival 2012 Blogger Partnership Program Commences
Monday, June 25th, 2012
We are fast approaching the 2012 Chicago Dancing Festival (August 20-25) and in addition to announcing the 2012 six day line-up, the Chicago Dancing Festival is also launching its Blogger Partner Program for the second year running! Your responses to the blogs were so positive last year that we’ve not only brought it back, but we’ve expanded the program by adding bloggers AND blogging right alongside them!
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet in Uneven. Photo Credit: Cheryl Mann Photography
We have partnered with five Chicago-area bloggers who write for varying audiences, to educate and excite people on what the Festival is all about and how our patrons can take advantage of all the festivities! Starting now through the end of August, you will have access to regular content from our bloggers including Festival interviews, behind-the-scenes access and of course, event coverage. Stay tuned here as we will be posting excerpts of each of the blogs under the blog category “Chicago Dancing Festival 2012.” We also invite you to follow along with them on their sites and Twitter using the hashtag #CDF12!
Martha Graham Dance Company in Diversion of Angels. Photo Credit: Cheryl Mann Photography
Meet our Bloggers!
Rogue Ballerina: The ‘voice’ behind this Chicago-based dance blog is Vicki Crain, who will bring you highlights of dancers, choreographers, directors and “all-around artsy performance folk.” Vicki will be providing you with an ‘insider’s look’ into the Festival.
ChicagoNow: Get Out and Have Fun Around Chicagoland: Blogger Shari Schmidt writes with a focus on family-friendly events in Chicago. She will be sharing information on the Festival events and how your family can enjoy them (as she’s bringing her own family as well!). Shari also writes for the Chicago Moms blog.
Contrapuntist: Dance isn’t just about the dancers – it’s also about the music. Miguel Cano is a classically trained guitarist and music lover. His wife, Erin Cano, is a classically trained violist and Suzuki certified music instructor. During the Festival, Miguel and Erin are going to feature the sounds behind the Festival in this blog.
Chicago Photo Blog: Araceli Arroyo has taken gorgeous photographs depicting Chicago and its wonders. Now she’s going to capture the Chicago Dancing Festival purely through photographs. The dancers, the patrons, the venues…and you can see them all on her blog and her Flickr account.
Adventures in Yes: Written by Scott Silberstein – multi-Emmy-Award winning producer, composer for HMS Media and a company member of the Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company – is an avid fan of the arts. His blog is a collection of his thoughts from a ‘regular guy’s’ perspective. It’s his way of getting away from behind the stage and into the audience. Read along with him during the Festival to watch, listen, and enjoy the show!
The Joffrey Ballet artists Victoria Jaiani and Temur Suluashvili in the White Swan pas de deux by Lev Ivanov. Photo Credit: Cheryl Mann Photography
When the Festival is underway (August 20-25, 2012), be sure to let your friends know which events and/or days you are attending by checking-in on Foursquare and mentioning the hashtag #CDF12 on Twitter (we’ll make sure to retweet you)! You can see all the updates from our Foursquare page!
We can’t wait to see you at the Festival!
Questions? Comment below and we’ll try to help!