L'Apres Midi d'un Faun

Wow it is crazy busy here, so sorry we have been MIA. like i said in the last post, we are getting ready for our Skokie performance then after that is our Spring Gala, and THEN is our Spring Program American Moderns.

If you haven't been to our YouTube site, please go check it out as Leif has done an amazing job with it. many thanks!
here are some historical videos of L'Apres Midi d'un Faun. enjoy!





all the best and have a great Wednesday!

2008 Spring Gala Coming Soon!

Hello Everyone,
first of all thanks so much for all the support from you people that liked the video. More are in the works and when they are ready we will post them here.

Sorry for the lack of updates this week, we have all been very busy preparing for the 2008 Spring Gala that is happening May 9th. As well as working on our spring program American Moderns that is opening on the 14th of May. more info as it comes.

All the best to YOU, and have a great weekend!

8 East Randolph

I was just at The Joffrey Tower taking some more photos. Construction
is going well!

Company Class 4/11/08

Hello readers, sorry we missed you on Monday. Today we have a special treat for you though. on Aprill 11th i was able to videotape Company Class at the studios that Ashley Wheater taught. I edited together some clips to give you a taste of what being in the studio was like. enjoy!

(if you are having trouble viewing the video, you might have to download the latest Flash Player)



If you would like to see more videos of the company leave a comment and let us know!
Also, if you're in Chicago, enjoy the nice weather we are having. :)

Waterbaby Bagatelles

Hello Everone, today i wanted to share the program description for Waterbaby Bagatelles that we will be performing in our American Moderns program coming up next month. I can't wait to check it out! enjoy.

WATERBABY BAGATELLES

Choreography by Twyla Tharp
Staged by Shelley Washington
Scenic and Costume Design originally by Santo Loquasto
Lighting Design originally by Jennifer Tipton

In musicology, bagatelles are short and unpretentious compositions. This seven-piece array of ballet bagatelles, created originally for Boston Ballet, takes place on a pristinely surfaced stage overhung and aqueously lighted by rows of stark, re-arrangeable, florescent light tubes, like those that might illuminate an aquarium. The mostly bare-chested men and the sometimes bathing-capped women reinforce the dance's swimming and/or water connection. Riding on the music's pulse and dance's momentum, they occasionally scoot in and out as if jogging, backwards as often as forwards. Taking inspiration from a musical range that goes from 12-tone innovator Anton Webern through Tango man Astor Piazzolla, Tharp's separate yet continuous seeming dances curvet over the stage as if the dancers were schools of fish.One spinning and rocketing male dancer stands apart from the "schools" like the proverbial big fish in the ballet's big pond; likewise, the ballet gives prominence to a ballerina, sometimes mated with the biggest male "fish." A secondary ballerina and her partner, appear out of the ballet's darkest segment, to twine and couple in a slippery pas de deux to "Bella by Barlight." Driven by a "still waters run deep" current, the dancing of Waterbaby Bagatelles variously flows along, over and through the music's pulse, at times animating the silence and spaces between the musical ingredients. The "underwater tango" segment showcases a sassy couple dancethat builds slowly to a stageful of such dancing; the strongly driven "hunt" bagatelle is a display of strutting men, full of "attitude" alongside a contingent of slithery and spasmodic "mermaids." The culminating dance, "On the Dominant Divide," brings every one of the swimming" men and women back into the big picture. Percussion augmented by vocal elements soar as the dancing and dancers pour into and out of view, like so many swimmingbodies, passing in the night.

World Premiere: April 30, 1994, Boston Ballet
Joffrey Premiere: May 9, 2008, Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL

Thursday Updates

Hello readers!

First of all i highly recommend seeing Alvin Ailey if you haven't seen them already and are in Chicago. They are touring right now, and according to their website the next stop is Hanover, NH then Philadelphia, PA. check 'em out! last nights performance was amazing!

Some interesting press on The Joffrey from Chicago Tribune Critic Sid Smith. What do you all think?

We are having a drawing to win a Herman Miller Mid-Century Eames Chair! enter here. It is free to enter and is a sweepstakes that is attached to our American Moderns Program. So you can win an actual "American Modern." get it? :)

ok see you tomorrow! xoxoxxoxo

Alvin Ailey Performs in Chicago Tonight!

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs tonight through the 20th at The Auditorium Theatre. Come out and support our good friends! it was funny, yesterday I was walking west on Monroe street and saw some of the Ailey Dancers walking into the Palmer House where they must be staying. I was tempted to ask for an autograph... but I figured that they had been traveling for awhile and probably wanted to get to their hotel rooms.

In other news (and this shows you how totally disconnected i get...) I just found The Auditorium Theatre's Blog on the interwebz! go check it out and leave a nice comment for those sexy folks!

American Moderns Online Ads

Here are some ads that Richard Cassis of SPARC, INC. and I made for The Joffrey's online ads for the Time Out Chicago website. they should be up sometime this week or the next. The ad below is actually double the size, but to display it on the blog i had to shrink it :)



Happy Tuesday everyone! Think Spring!

Nice Joffrey Tower Photos

Joffrey Photographer Herbert Migdoll took some great photos of the new building on State Street last week. Enjoy!

About To See ABT Tonight

very excited to see the show tonight. we are up in the balcony as you
can see ;-) happy Friday everyone!

Garfield Park Conservatory Photo Shoot

photos by Sandra Mesrine

Here are some awesome photos that photographer Sandra Mesrine took of Joffrey Dancers Victoria Jaiani, Erica Lynette Edwards, Megan Quiroz, Matthew Adamczyk and Fabrice Calmels. The photos were for fashion spreads in the recent issue of Today's Chicago Woman. The issue looks fabulous, so if you can pick up a copy i highly suggest it! In the article are a bunch of other top Chicago dance companies. Read more about the photo shoot here



Thanks so much for sending them to us Sandra!

ABT Opening Night Tonight!

come support our friends from ABT today or this weekend! :)

American Moderns Ads

photo by Joanna Wozniak, from the panel above the State and Lake street EL track entrance

Check out the cool American Moderns ads that are around town (near train/bus stops). The bus ads should be up soon too, keep your eyes peeled ;-)

AAEP Program

Hello everyone! I recently had the chance to go to the Gallery 37 building, and work with some of the students that are participating in the dance program. For those who may not know, Gallery 37 has an Advanced Arts Education Program (AAEP) for high school juniors and seniors. The program was started by Maggie Daley a few years ago, and currently has 39 different schools participating in the program. Not only is there a dance program, but there are also programs for theater, visual arts, choir and jazz ensemble. 

Most of the students in the dance program have had no formal dance training.  Which makes being a part of the program such a fun challenge. The students are always eager to learn and try new things. During the program a handful or choreographers will have the opportunity of working with the dancers, giving them a chance to try many different styles of dance.

The students will rehearse for a few more weeks prior to their performances on May 20 and 22. The performance will not only feature the dance program, but all the other programs as well. And guess what? It's FREE!

So if you find yourself needing something to do on May 20 or 22 at 2:30pm and 6:00pm, stop on by the Gallery 37 building and support some really talented and inspiring young artists.

MSmith

Happy Birthday, Mr. Tudor!

Today is Antony Tudor's 100th birthday. There's an article in the Washington Post about his work and his history with ABT, including quotes from Donald Mahler and Sally Bliss, who both worked with Joffrey dancers to stage works for the Tudor Centennial program we performed in February. It gives some nice insights into his style of choreography for those of you (like me) who don't know much about the man himself.

Historical Joffrey Ballet Footage Found on YouTube!

Oh wow complete gold mine i just found on YouTube (looks to be recent addition too!) of older Joffrey footage.

Check out this link: Joffrey Ballet for all the videos!!!



omg this is some great stuff! Apparently it's coming from Leif Steinert, a good friend of Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, and Herbert Migdoll from back in the days. Thank you! everyone should totally post a comment telling him thanks for this wealth of awesome footage! you get it for free :-))

ABT Performing in Chicago!

Paloma Herrera in The Sleeping Beauty. Photo by MIRA. Courtesy of ABT.

Shout out to our good friends ABT from New York City who are performing The Sleeping Beauty at the Chicago Civic Opera House from April 9 - 13th! I highly recommend checking them out as the performances will no doubt be awesome. I will hopefully be seeing them on the matinee of the 10th (hoping to see David Hallberg perform), and the evening show of the 11th (Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes). I wish I could see all the shows!

Ballet amid the bullets in Iraq

Stumbled upon this link, brave people promoting culture amidst very hard times:

Ballet amid the bullets in Iraq there is a nice slide show with photos on the page as well.

makes me feel crazy lucky to be here.

Tuesday Update

I know I promised some cool content about the soundproofing of the new building etc. should be coming later this week. It is getting very very busy here with the upcoming spring program American Moderns. Plus the dancers came back from break on Monday and they are rehearsing for the Spring Gala as well as the American Moderns program. Updates might be a bit scattered for the rest of this week (as if they were not already...). We still love you don't worry! :-)