“No one carries off this daunting challenge with more panache than Melissa Thodos…” That’s what Hedy Weiss wrote in her review of the tremendously successful Thodos Dance Chicago New Dances 2009. The challenge that she was referring to is that of creating and managing a process that allows new choreographers to develop their own voices, as Thodos Dance Chicago (www.thodosdancechicago.org) has for the past ten years, since the inception of its brilliant summer series New Dances.
This may be the most unique of Melissa Thodos’ many talents, and when you see the multifaceted artistic mosaic that New Dances has become, you begin to feel that in many ways it is in itself a choreography -- a balanced, dynamic performance -- whose content consists not of the work of an ensemble of dancers, but of an ensemble of choreographers.
This week featured two of Melissa Thodos’ other talents, though -- as Artistic Director and Choreographer, when Thodos Dance Chicago performed at the legendary Jacob’s Pillow Dance in Massachusetts. On her way out of town I kept Melissa on the phone long enough to ask her a few questions about the festival.
Q1: What is Jacob’s Pillow Dance?
Melissa: It’s America’s longest-running dance festival. All of the people who appreciate this art form -- choreographers, educators, composers --- come together to share in this great experience. There’s an amazing amount of history there.
Q2: What works will Thodos Dance be performing?
Melissa: We’re performing Ron de Jesus’ work “Departurepoint”, Kelli Hodges’ “Hopelandic”, as well as two of my works, “Driven” and “Cascade”.
Q3: Would you call this the first show of the new Thodos Dance season? It seems like an indication of the trajectory of the Company that the 2008-2009 season ended with the Thodos Dance Chicago performance at the Busan International Dance Festival (www.bidf.or.kr/eng/index.php) and with three sellouts at New Dances, and the 2009-2010 season begins at Jacob’s Pillow (www.jacobspillow.org).
Melissa: This is the first show of our new season, which will run through April, after which we go into New Dances.
Check out http://www.thodosdancechicago.org/dancePerformance.html to keep up-to-date on when to see this remarkable Company, including the Thodos Dance Chicago Fall Concert, this year both at the Harris Theatre Chicago, November 28, and at the Centre East North Shore Center for the Performing Arts on November 13.
This is my probably my favorite track from last year. I thought I'd share it and recommend the entire album.
Dance Chicago begins its unique month-long presentation of dance performances, and on Thursday, November 3, the first of the New Moves series will go on at Stage 773. Following up on last month's very successful run of their full length show What Is Home To You, Renegade Dance Architects will present two works: Ginger Jensen's Search Me and Amy Williams' Here They Come. For more info: Stage 773.
As challenging as it is to express an artistic vision, only slightly less difficult is trying to get anybody to pay attention when you do. One of the important artistic aspects of Thodos Dance Chicago's New Dances series is that all of the best critical voices in the city take the time to see the works and write about them. Here's some of the coverage for New Dances 2011 -- enthusiastic, engaging, and like most criticism, multifaceted:
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune
Zachary Whittenburg, Time Out Chicago
Laura Molzahn, SeeChicagoDance.com
Hay Perro's Record Release is at Quenchers, Friday March 11. Thunderunderus and I Love Rich! are there too, starting at 9PM. A great chance to check out what The Illinois Entertainer called "the sound Hay Perro has crafted during its five-year existence: intricate heavy-metal — dual-guitar harmonies everywhere — played with madcap punk-rock ferocity." If you want to, you can look up some of our other stories on Hay Perro while you're waiting for the show to start.
South By Southwest runs March 11 through the 20th in Austin, and Black Light Saints will be there to play Cedar Street Courtyard on Tuesday the 15th, after which they head to San Antonio for a show at Limelight on the 16th. Their Impossible Picks album is getting heard alot in alot of places --- I just listened to it again when Britton Wetherald and Dan Agosto stopped by Heart & Soul to do a podcast, which we'll have in a day or so. There's a new release from the band at dopecouture.com called "Research The Obvious" (along with a great write-up) if you can't make Austin or San Antonio.
The new planetclaire.com is live. The relaunch coincides with the release of Claire's latest project, her Hearts and Minds EP. It's a great artist site, mixing the new --- "A Long Goodbye" and "Winds of Change" (written and produced with long-time writing partner Tommy G), and "Wouldn't It" (produced by 'ohana Dreamdance bandmate Johnny Nevin) --- with some classic video from pop legend Tami Show. More from us about Hearts and Minds in a few days, but you can get it now at cdbaby and at iTunes. Even more of Claire's music is at the very cool Planet Claire.
Thodos Dance Chicago's Winter Concert March 4 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, like the performance February 19 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, was a breakthrough success. Hedy Weiss, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, said of the Winter Concert: "It is a must-see for anyone intrigued by Chicago history, by the power of dance to spin a story, and by the sight of a dance troupe clearly in the throes of a major breakthrough." For a closer look at the choreography of the current Thodos Dance Chicago repertory, you may want to have a look at these:
Ann Reinking, Melissa Thodos and "The White City"
Francisco Avina and Stephanie Martinez-Bennit and "Quieting the Clock"
Melissa Thodos and "Getting There"
Wade Schaaf and "Dancer, Net (Solo 1)"
Ron De Jesús and "Shift"
Pittsburgh Connections is the widely respected annual choreography series presented by Point Park University's Pittsburgh's Playhouse. This year's performance premiere's November 12, and runs through the 21st. You can find more information on the shows, which include new works by Dionna Pridgeon, Kassandra Taylor, Gina Patterson and Justin Myles, at Pittsburgh Playhouse. For the first installment of the podcast with Craig talking about his return to Point Park, check out Craig Kaufman's Return to Point Park University, and for more on "A Path Home", here's the full article: Craig Kaufman's A Path Home Premieres.
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Here's a really short podcast that traces the development of the "Wouldn't It" production. It starts with the intro from the final release, but then shows five different stages of the song's development, playing different progressive versions of how the arrangement and production of the track changed. Each of the versions is from the same section of the song, the second verse and chorus, until the podcast closes with the rest of the song from the final release. If you've got a few minutes, take a little trip through the process of how a singer/songwriter and her producer find the track that they want to make from a beautiful song.
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Here's a first listen to three excerpts from Black Light Saints' new EP Impossible Picks ---- "What Happens Next", "Baby Girl" and "Cattle Skull". The record is already getting talked up a lot, both because everybody who's heard it is so into it, and because of the high profiles of the members --- Ephraim Cuellar, Britton Wetherald, and Alex Brandi, not to mention the production by Dan Agosto. More from us in our story about Black Light Saints and from them on their Facebook.
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