Innervations Dance Cooperative is an innovative Chicago company currently presenting work from two projects. The first is part of a new initiative that Elisa Carlson, one of the Company's Artistic Directors, told aotpr about recently; it's called IDC SPEAKS, and it's a new touring and outreach program. IDC SPEAKS is bringing two productions to Chicago area schools: the first is Gods, Monsters, and Heroes, which tells Greek mythology through movement, set to contemporary pop/rock music. The second is Everyman, which tells the medieval morality play by the same name, set entirely to Led Zeppelin.

The best place to catch an IDC performance if you're not lucky enough to be at one of the schools they're touring is at Dance Chicago: The company will be performing four pieces at the month-long festival: Crooked by Mandy Work (Jazz Cabaret, Sunday, November 6 at 3:00pm), Three by Molly Beck (New Moves B, Thursday, November 10 at 8:00pm), Got You by Stephanie Unger (New Moves C, Wednesday, November 16 at 8:00pm), and The Tale of Apollo and Orion by Michael Sherman (Dance Carnival, Thursday, November 17 at 8:00pm).

For more about IDC, by all means check out innervationdance.org and their facebook.

Choreography is such an active art form that people don't always hear about how much thought goes into its creation, and yet much of what makes Dance so compelling is that an art form whose expression is so physical is the product of such careful thought. This is of course true of the choreographers and dancers, but there is also a rich and careful creative process behind all of the complexities of beginning, maintaining and inspiring a Dance Company, and in the presentation of each of their concerts. Here are some thoughts from Ginger Jensen, the Artistic Director of Renegade Dance Architects.

About the Concert "What Is Home To You": "I like to ask questions of our audiences, as I feel this makes them more a part of the process.  Last year's concert was "What makes you extraordinairy?"  ... This year's idea of home is another universal idea, that largely differs depending on who you ask.  People have replied that home is a place where they can truly be themselves, where they aren't afraid to make mistakes, where there is comfort, where there is love."

There's a well-known dance theater whose web site describes with pride -- and justifiably so --- how more than twenty new choreographic works have been commissioned by the space over fifteen or so years. An impressive accomplishment, considering the complexity and challenge of sponsoring and staging even a single new work. It puts into vivid perspective, though, the incredible achievement of the Thodos New Dances series, which in its eleventh year is approaching its one hundredth new work, many of which have gone on to achieve impressive success beyond the New Dances program.

The process that transmutes an idea from experimental to iconic is long and improbable, and a careful look through the program for the ever-more-impressive 2011 edition of New Dances gives some idea of what that process involves. It requires a substantial community of shared enthusiasm, working hard to make everything work successfully.

In a great article called Together With A Gift at 4dancers.org, Kimberly Peterson talks about the latin roots of the word "communiity", which comes from the latin words for "together" and "gift". New Dances 2011 is a community of more than forty dancers, ten choreographers, a distinguished advisor panel, the Thodos Dance Chicago staff and technical organizations, and several independent lighting, sound and costume designers. Over its eleven year history, New Dances has probably been the shared creation of four or five hundred artists, and now regularly performing to packed houses, in its various editions it has played to an audience several thousand people too large to fit in any dance theater. It's an astonishing achievement, of course in the multi-faceted success of nine different choreographic visions, but even more significantly, in the multidimensional gifts shared by the unique community that makes it happen.

Reggie Rajah Helm is in the studio working on the follow up to En Sabado, and there'll be a first chance to hear some of his new material when he plays at The Country Club Hills Theater on July 16 for their "Jazz Under The Stars" series. Rajah opens the show for Jazz / R&B artist Kem, and besides introducing the new material, he'll also be performing two songs as a tribute to the late, great Curtis Mayfield.

Performing with Rajah will be two talented background vocalists, Al Young and Alfreida Young, who he first worked with while performing with Terisa Griffin (Terisa Griffin also sang two of the tracks on En Sabado) at the Dusable Museum. Performing on alto and soprano sax, Rajah is also planning on introducing his rendition of a rock classic by Led Zeppelin. Although he's not revealing the title of the track yet, he does say that it will be included on the new album, entitled Chase-N-Me There.