Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) hosts its highly anticipated 19th Anniversary "Dancing With The Giordano Stars" ballroom dance competition 7-11 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8 at Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave. This popular annual event, patterned after the hit ABC series "Dancing With The Stars," benefits GDC's transformative initiatives through the GDC Youth Arts Education Fund. Event Co-Chairs are Dina Gallay and Sandy Golub. Emcee for the evening is former FOX News and sports anchor Corey McPherrin.

On Oct. 8, a group of Chicago A-listers, each with their Giordano professional dancer partner, will compete for a shot at winning the coveted Disco Ball and the title of Best Male Dancer or Best Female Dancer. The stakes are high with each couple performing only one dance for one chance to impress the guest judges including Emmy Award-winning director, choreographer and GDC Resident Choreographer Al Blackstone, Associate Publisher Chicago Star Media and author of the Candid Candace Blog, Candace Jordan and Emmy Award-winning Anchor/Reporter and Host at Fox 32 Chicago, Tia Ewing. Contestants also vie for special awards for Top Fundraiser and Audience Favorite.

The slate of male contestants (and their GDC dance partners) includes. Andy Anisfeld, Vice President Medical Affairs and Health Impact, Immunology, AbbVie (Erina Ueda), Adam Cummis, Restaurateur, Blaze Pizza (Analysse Vance), Ted Grady, Partner, J&L Catering ,(Sasha Lazarus), Erik Kessler, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal (Amanda Hickey-Newcom) and Peter Q. Thompson, Managing Director, Blue Marlin Partners (Talia Luzzo).

The slate of female contestants (and their GDC dance partners) includes Jordan C. Carqueville, MD, Founder of Derm Institute of Chicago (Joshua Brumm), Allana Emery, Finance Director , Publicis Groupe (Eduardo Zambrana), Annie Laughton, Stay at Home Mom (Simon Schuh),  Bonnie Micheli, CO-CEO, Shred415 (Aidan Aloma) and Elena Moore, Physician, Gynecologic Oncology, Endeavor Health (Adam Houston).

Individual tickets begin at $150. Tickets include a 4-hour open bar and light fare provided by J&L Catering. For tickets or more information, visit giordanodance.org/dwtgs or call 312.922.1332.

"Dancing With The Giordano Stars" fundraising supports GDC's transformative initiatives. Through the Youth Arts Education Fund, the company illuminates the path for the next generation with innovative programs such as the CPS Jazz Dance/Science & Health, GDC's Free Ticket Program, dynamic dance workshops, enriching mentorship partnerships, immersive school residencies and the esteemed NGCP® certification.

"Dancing With The Giordano Stars 2026" precedes GDC's "untamed passion" fall engagement
at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, located at 9501 Skokie Blvd.,
at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7. For tickets, visit northshorecenter.org.

America's original jazz dance company electrifies into their 64th season with radiance and infinite horizons. Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) is an iconic cultural institution with deep roots in Chicago and around the globe (28 countries, 47 states, and more than 1,300 cities). From founder Gus Giordano's vision, the company continues to honor the past while pushing the art form forward. Nan Giordano celebrates 42 years as an artistic leader responsible for commissioning innovative choreographic works and mentoring thousands of dancers. Alongside Nan, Associate Artistic Director, Cesar G. Salinas and the magnificent dancers are an integral part of the GDC legacy. Al Blackstone serves as Resident Choreographer, truly a testament that the art form of jazz dance is thriving. The company is one of the few in the world that has a foundational technique, Nan Giordano Certification Program®, with certified teachers in 9 countries and 36 states. GDC is committed to Youth Arts Education at home and on tour through mentorships, scholarships, and our free Chicago Public Schools and park programs. GDC is proud to be one of the longest running dance companies in the world, continuing to enrich lives through dance. For more information visit giordanodance.org.

From its beginning in 1992 on the tiny stage of a modest theater, Dance for Life (DFL) has grown and grown over the decades into something glorious.  Its purpose over the last 35 years, as conceived by DFL’s creator, Keith Elliott, then with the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, has never altered or faltered.  Mobilize a community devastated by a deadly scourge.  Raise money to help the stricken. Build solidarity within Chicago’s professional dance culture.  Initially and always a festival of dance chiefly focused on that second point, a few things have changed with time.  Although AIDS has virtually been vanquished, at least in the first world, health and other needs within the dance community have not diminished.  In 2025, DFL affiliated Chicago Dance Health Fund awarded $75,000 to dancers and other dance professionals facing critical need. 

The annual celebration of dance very much remains a way for dancers to help other dancers by practicing their art.  These days its being done on a much grander scale and showcasing a far wider range of what world class dance looks like and even feels like in the present day.

There were hints the 35^th annual Dance for Life performance at the Auditorium Saturday night would be particularly memorable and they all centered on dress.  Although venue is always a factor, dance audiences are not especially circumspect when it comes to presentation.  Much of the attire on display in the concert hall’s spacious lobby that evening was not only stylish, dashing and glamorous, some pieces touched on the spectacular.  Collectively, the energy they generated heightened the sense of expectation that already hung heavy in the air.  The display proved just the right harbinger to forecast a sensational night of dance.

Bulging at the seams with the exceptional, the latest iteration of DFL showcased ten dance companies along with two additional finale works - and even a third, a raffle performance. In addition to the traditional large-scale finale that always closes the show, the program would also include a sizzling bonus dance performance that was also featured in the inaugural DFL concert. 

This year’s show opened with elegance.  Danced to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s Beyond Mortal used sweep and grace to beautifully capture the secular spirituality of Mozart’s score.  Choreographed by the company’s Artistic Director Nicole Clarke-Springer, it reveals how one Black-led dance company lives up to its mission to “diversify the aesthetics of contemporary dance”.  Fireworks scripted in the language of the ethereal, Beyond Mortal ushered in the night with a nod to serenity and poise.

Giordano Dance Chicago. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

Giordano Dance Chicago decided to leave a different stamp on the gala by amping up a version of its signature heat.  There would be several excerpts featured throughout the evening and Giordano chose the best of its 2011 Sabroso to spellbind the thousands seated in the ornate theater.  Not only were the dancers speed and precision blinding, their joy blasted from the stage.  Triggering genuine awe and lighting up the room with cheers.

The temperature would ebb and flow throughout the night and after such a prodigious display of white-hot energy, a cool down came in the form of romantically sublime ballet.  This year a pair of fresh Joffrey faces, Hyuma Kiyosawa and Yumi Kanazawa, superlatively danced Postcards, founder Robert Joffrey’s ode to love, innocence and Paris of the 1920s.  With Jorge Ivars’ ravishing accompaniment on piano, the dance ushered in an extended moment of enchantment.

A slight pause and rocket engines soon screeched again with Loud, created by KC Bevis and performed by the Ensemble of Chicago Dance Crash.  Street dance and concert dance converged to make scorching hot magic in this mesmerizing performance. Here dance takes on a decidedly charismatic persona. One defined by strength, vigor, dexterity and boundless native imagination.   Jazzed up with the burning beats of DJ B-Gram P, the heady mix of club and dance culture lit the theater on fire.  One of many highlights that evening, Loud proved once again boundaries in dance simply don’t exist.  

Both Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater and later Trinity Irish Dance Company stole the show with drama and the ability to turn the sound of synchronized feet striking a stage floor into transfixing music.  In this case eliciting two completely different emotional responses that were both riveting.

Trinity Irish Dance Company. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Ballet 5:8 luxuriated in the freedom and unique beauty of contemporary ballet.  On their heels was another band of boundary pushers.  Chicago Dance Artists Piece performed Harrison McEldowney and Jeremy Plummer’s Red, White & Black; employing aerial concepts devised by Plummer.  Aerial acrobatics, dance and music by F.U.N. came together to blend brawn-flecked whimsy with a healthy dash of wholesome excitement.

After intermission, and dressed up in colorfully glam togs, Visceral Dance Chicago tapped into mischief. Dancing R E V E L, set to Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, they vamped, seduced and cavorted to the timeless music of an international classic. Devilishly choreographed by Nick Pupillo, it was not only brilliant and unexpected, it was massive delight to watch.

Visceral Dance Chicago. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

Two other works were even more impactful.  One was a dance featured in the very first Dance for Life performance called The Man That Got Away.  Sultry, sexy and a solid story told in dance, it featured only two dancers.  One acted simply as a prop.  The other, Johnathon Dole, was the soloist who danced the part of a shattered heart. One that begged and pleaded not to be ignored and cast aside.  Dole’s was the kind of dancing that kept rising and rising until it struck magnificent.  Buoyed by the right dancer, the right music and the power of bold expressive choreography, The Man That Got Away induced amazement and roars of approval.

The other masterwork was more restrained but no less beautiful or potent.  Robyn Mineko Williams and Artists danced a portion of Cloudline, a dream-state piece that used a 30-foot-silk cloth to help accentuate the dance’s atmosphere.  Two lovers find one another and embody the mystery and overwhelming satisfaction true love manifests through dance. As portrayed in movement by Morgan Clune and Amari Frazier, a more convincing display of that ideal is impossible to imagine.  A benchmark piece, its sudden and surprising ending provoked a collective gasp and then robust ovations.

This year’s concert honors choreographer, mentor and teacher Randy Duncan.  Mr. Duncan has created most DFL closing works since its inception, including Renewed; this year’s finale. Made up of dancers from the night’s performing companies, freelancers and students, they comprise a large contingent.  And in the muteness of Richard Dayhoff’s quiet gray costumes, there was a somber cast that shadowed their numbers. 

As the dance developed and took shape to music and lyrics by Ira Antelis, you could see the themes of resilience and positive conviction shining through.  A rejoicing in emerging from darkness to thrive once again.  The essence of Dance for Life. 

Dance for Life

August 22, 2026

The Auditorium Theatre

50 Ida B. Wells Drive

Chicago, IL  60605

For more information:  https://www.cdhf.org/danceforlife

It’s no secret every new dance season is filled with its own undercurrent of anticipation. Regardless of the company, audiences who follow them silently wonder what will be the prevailing theme that will dominate a troupe’s next major performance. What attributes will signal growth and maturity.  What kind of insights are going to be shared through a gifted choreographer’s storytelling skills.  What unexpected feat of technical or physical prowess is going to once again prove dance’s unmatched ability to translate the full scope our humanity.

Some companies can always be relied on to provide brilliant responses to those kinds of musings.  Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) is one of them and their Ignite the Soul program at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance Friday night demonstrated that even with more than 60 years’ experience dancing at the top, the growing process never ceases.  The will and desire to keep striving, learning and absorbing does much more than simply avert atrophy.  It fuels the kind of energy that invigorates everyone on the stage and in the seats.  And it enables some of the galvanizing moments found in Ignite the Soul.

A broad ranging show that spanned genres of dance and artistic temperaments, half of the program’s six dance roster consisted of works that have never previously been performed publicly.  Two of the three world premieres were made possible by donors who, not so uncommonly, prefer to remain anonymous.

The show opened with resident choreographer Al Blackstone’s Latin inspired, Sana.  Receiving its own world premier last year, the dance lives as comfortably in the realm of contemporary dance as it does jazz.  Meant to evoke notions of healing, Sana highlights the beneficence of community and the power of the collective.  Thrillingly dynamic and often probing, Stahv Danker’s original score makes for a potent force that enhances Sana’s appeal.

Over the years, GDC has fine-tuned the way it incorporates film shorts to provide supporting information about the company, its history, its dancers, the choreographers it partners with and the wealth of community initiatives it conducts.  Each season these interludes become more polished and prove more indispensable.  One preceded each of the evening’s new dance segments; providing priceless insights into what fuels a talented choreographer’s creative process.  By the time tap dancer, choreographer and arts executive Mike Minery finished his explanation on how My Kind of Girl came about, you couldn’t wait to see the world premier he collaborated with GDC’s Artistic Director, Nan Giordano, to produce for the company. 

Adam Houston and Sasha Lazarus - photo by Zach Kemper.

Through his lead in, we learn how crucial tap is to much of modern dance and how instructive it can be to a dancer’s technical foundation.  Then we were reintroduced to how therapeutic and beautiful the dance form can be when Minery himself took to the stage with GDC’s splendid Erina Ueda to enrapture the hall with a gorgeous tap duet.  In this hyper-digitized, infamously disconnected world, My Kind of Girl is as analog as a warm hug and twice as pleasing.  Loaded with dance prowess of the highest level and bathed in Frank Sinatra’s silky voice backed by Count Basie’s band, the audience couldn’t help but cheer heartily after My Kind of Girl came to its swoon worthy close. 

Following that welcome touch of sweetness, the company brought out the flame throwers with Sabroso, a 2011 torcher crafted by Del Dominguez and Laura Flores.  Quintessential Giordano in its presentation, dancers shimmied and strutted their way through a sassy half dozen Latin dance styles that came packed with plenty of sensual heat.  Flaunting knock-out sequined costumes designed Nina G., the women in the company made sultry soar while their male counterparts wrapped machismo in a thick layer of sophistication.  Adam Houston and Analysse Vance picture perfect Bolero highlighted the exceptional individual artistry dancers bring to a performance.  The kind that always guarantees delight.

Something of the transformational arrived with Jon Rua’s namuH, a dance signifying the power and importance of love at its most basic and pure.  Rua’s video explanation of his personal background and the trajectory of his career from street dancer to choreographer ideally framed the dance that followed.  The word “Human” spelled backward, namuH feels as if it has one foot in the present day and one in the future.  Bjork and Stateless’s music draw an intense landscape.  Rugged and difficult.  Coupled with neutral, utilitarian costumes worn by the dancers and you sense a sterile almost bleak world.  The energy and magnetism come from the dance and the dancers who, despite any obstacle or hardship, invariably end up leaning on each other to keep on keeping on. 

The music, the way the dance unfolds, the unorthodox movements whose origins clearly derive from the grit of urban streets, all draw you in and leave you captivated.  As rewarding as the choreography itself is, the company’s dancers give it life by fully internalizing its precepts and projecting its message so beautifully.   

This is about as far away from jazz dance as you can get, but namuH’s central theme of cohesion and co-dependence; as well as the way it helps us see the latent generosity in all of us, make it an ideal match for this venerable dance company that can shape shift so elegantly.

Excerpts of Ronen Koresh’s 2015 Crossing/Lines preceded the night’s finale and final world premiere, Dumb Luck!, choreographed by Mr. Blackstone.   A salute to the country’s upcoming 250 anniversary and an intentional lighthearted salve to our erratic times, Dumb Luck!, with its nautical pastiche and post-war verve, is a happy escape to nostalgia.  Nina G.’s period sailor outfits take you right back to the grand old days of splashy Hollywood musicals.  Coasting on jazz gold via the sounds of The Nate King Cole trio, the Manhattan Transfer, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, dancers cavort while maintaining tight but jaunty dance formations.

A very fine effort, strengthening the dance’s core character would make it more even more distinctive.  

Whetting the appetite for more is what Dumb Luck! and the rest of the dances making up Ignite the Soul’s program do all too well.  Placing those expectation reveries about their next stage outing on high boil once again.

Ignite the Soul

Giordano Dance Chicago

April 10-11, 2026

Venue: The Harris Theater for Music and Dance

205 E. Randolph Street

Chicago, IL  60601

For more information about Giordano Dance Chicago:  https://www.giordanodance.org

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Many decades ago, my mother enrolled me in ballet classes, hoping the classical training would somehow turn her rotund preteen into a graceful swan. On my way to those tortuous lessons on Davis Street in Evanston, I passed another door marked “Gus Giordano Studio.” The typeface was cooler than the ballet studio’s script and so were the jazzy strains of music that drifted downward. If only I’d climbed Giordano’s narrow stairway instead, I might have lasted longer on the dance floor.

Fortunately, plenty of other students chose Gus Giordano’s door. His infusion of jazz into contemporary dance has endured and manifested under the leadership of his daughter Nan and other creative contributors. Now in its 63^rd season, Giordano Dance Chicago presented its Ignite the Soul program at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts last weekend with the vibe that emanated from its original studio.

Sing, Sing, Sing, set to Louis Prima’s penetrating drumbeat, gave us three dancers and six white-gloved jazz hands having the time of their lives. After that joyful salvo came the lengthier and more reflective Gershwin in B.  Choreographed by Al Blackstone to a mélange of Gershwin classics, the 2024-piece features Erina Ueda who pulls us into the abstracted narrative by reaching for a red fedora that slides away before she can grasp it. Joined by the expressive and sleek ensemble in Branimira Ivanova’s glorious black and white costumes, the dancer strives for that fedora of success. Along the way, she finds love, partnering with Eduardo Zambrana and then moving on as she reaches for the next fedora.  

From Gershwin’s signature American jazz idiom, the program shifted to an Afro-Cuban sensibility. Liz Imperio’s La Belleza de Cuba set the entire Giordano company in motion, coupling and uncoupling with such intensity, the dancers seemed electrified by the mere presence of their partners. Almost like a palate cleaner, Interlinked by company member Simon Schuh did indeed interlink bodies with rapid-fire precision that suggested gymnasts as much as dancers.

Erina Ueda returned for different challenge in 333. Choreographed by Nan Giordano and Cesar G. Salinas to the music of Otis Redding, the solo piece further showcased Ueda’s emotional and technical range.

The final work of the evening, Red & Black, was created by Dancing with the Stars choreographer Ray Leeper for the company in 2024. With music selections from Eartha Kitt, Michael Bublé and others, the work has men stalking women and women stalking men, everyone seductive in their red and black attire. Lifting bar chairs, grouping and regrouping, forming alluring tableaux, they project an almost predatory energy. At one point, the women remove their jewelry and a single shoe, leveling themselves with great control as they continue their interactions with the men.

With its nightlife setting and the dancers’ charged, sophisticated moves, Red & Black brings another nighttime revelry, The Wild Party, to mind. Leeper’s extended party, however, doesn’t disintegrate into darkness; it simply keeps unfolding. Where exactly Red & Black arrives at the end is unclear and perhaps doesn’t need to be. The journey for this recent offering – so many years and countless stairs climbed by gifted dancers since I felt the Giordano magic on Davis Street – is destination enough.

For more information on Giordano Dance Chicago, go to https://www.giordanodance.org/

Dance performances can often be moving events but rarely do they hold the density, breadth and depth of emotions Giordano Dance Chicago’s (GDC) Spring engagement encompassed Friday night at the Harris Theater.  Part tribute, part commemoration of a milestone, and a total celebration of life, Soaring: Life, Light and Legacy spanned the gamut of all the things that can be interpreted more eloquently through the beauty of the arts.

Nan Giordano, celebrating her 40^th year at the helm of the dance company her father, Gus, created 62 years ago, lost her son and only child Keenan Giordano Casey suddenly and unexpectedly last year.  Each of the six dances performed in the Spring lineup touched on, either directly or tangentially, an aspect relating to these two events.  The skill in which GDC accomplished this feat makes the title given to the program a quiet touch of genius.

Opening with the first public performance of Sana, a work created from the verdant and sometimes ground shifting imagination of Al Blackstone, the dance centers on the notion of healing by striking notes reverberating with lightness and possibility.  Strains of calypso could be detected in percussionist’s Stahv Danker’s animated original score.  That same airiness and sense of optimism could also be found in the expectancy shining through the dancers’ movements and in the understated vibrancy of Devert Monet Hickman’s costume designs. They all coalesced to telegraph a message of hope.  It’s not unusual for a work’s newness to expose areas that could benefit from a bit more honing.  And it’s clear that once that sharpening occurs with Sana, its palliative message will ring with even greater resonance.

Some brand-new works though arrive in the world perfectly and 333 certainly counts as one of them.  A solo piece designed specifically for GDC principal dancer Erina Ueda by Ms. Giordano and GDC Associate Artistic Director, Cesar G. Salinas, it is quite simply a mesmerizing tour de force.  Dance can often be summed up as a combination of three parts.  Music, choreographic design, and execution. Here they are in a ravishingly flawless balance.

The rawness of life is something we often prefer to deny, despite its centrality to our very being and existence. Representing angel numbers that connect Ms. Giordano, her son Keenan and her father together, 333 embraces it, glorifies it and opens itself to its power.  Danced to the timeless and near magical appeal of Otis Redding’s signature rendition of Try a Little Tenderness, 333 simmers, explodes and stews in the vicissitudes of life.  I can’t imagine anyone being a better vessel for translating the impact of its mysteries than Ueda, whose expressive range seems boundless and appears to expand with the arrival of each new season.

It also proved the ideal prelude to Soaring, the dance tribute created for her son by Giordano, Salinas and the GDC dancers themselves.

A film introducing the audience to who and the type of person Keenan Casey was, and exposing the respect and love mother and son shared, preceded the dance itself, creating an atmosphere of compassionate awe.  Dancers in Nina G.’s costumes of wispy white then swept from both wings of the stage; ethereal and yet still grounded in the gravity of earthly cares.  Solemnity and exaltation danced in harmony as the entire company was later joined by 25 Keebirds, friends of Giordano’s son, Keenan.  Keebird was the sobriquet they used when referring to their fallen comrade.  Also dressed in white, feet bare and carrying lighted symbols of renewal they walked through the aisles and up to the stage in stoic silence while Antonio Pinto’s music filled the hall.  Striking, poignant and deeply touching, it symbolizes how wrenching great loss can be and how it can be willed into the spiritually restorative.

After a brief pause to absorb Soaring’s impact, lightning struck in the form of, what looked like to these eyes, a totally revamped version of Red and Black.  Created last year by Ray Leeper, the sultry jazz-soaked wonder, already sizzling with energy in its original format, seemed even more kinetic, electrified and polished to a blinding gleam. Opening to an extended version of an obscure Eartha Kitt jewel, female dancers in clinging gowns with long slits let it be known it’s a woman’s world.  One misstep and you’re likely to get scorched, bringing a whole new dimension to the term “deliciously provocative”.  In a program that covered a range of dance styles, this was vintage Giordano in peak form.  Confident, irrepressible, dazzling, athletic, brash. Bonji Duma’s musical expertise helped pump up the adrenalin to power it all.  Along with Ms. Kitt’s vocal brilliance, the music of Moloko, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Michael Bublé and Club De Belugas kept this rocket zooming.

Respite came with the visually enchanting Taal, an East Indian concept piece choreographed by Ms. Giordano in 2001.  The name derives from the traditional rhythmic pattern found in classical Indian music, brought to life here with works from Anuradha, Suno A.R. Rahman and S. Jhaia.   Asifa Imran’s graceful and culturally reflective costumes did their part to transport us to another place and time.  An important part of classical Indian dance, hand gestures are used to express a wide range of emotions and were incorporated extensively within Taal.  The effect was to fuse the identities of two dance cultures to create a unique artistic hybrid and something refreshingly new.

Following another short film shedding invaluable insight into what it takes to make a successful dance company thrive and the passion, talent and grit required to be a dancer within it; the program closed with Pyrokinesis. Living up to everything its name implies, this little stick of dynamite in the company’s repertoire, developed by Christopher Huggins in 2007, was a delight to see again. Dressed once again in red and black, this time sleekly styled by Branimira Ivanova, dancers showed what it means to be members of the most elite jazz dance company in the country, if not the world.  The dynamism found in Ray Leeper’s earlier piece simply takes a different form here, but the infectiousness of its joy, verve and vitality were just as powerful, energizing and uplifting.  A fitting close to a night commemorating life, light and transformational legacy.

Soaring: Life, Light and Legacy

Giordano Dance Chicago

April 4-5, 2025

Harris Theater for Music and Dance

205 E. Randolph Street

Chicago, IL   60601

*This review can also be found at Theater in Chicago.

I’m actually not a dance critic. I don’t know enough about dance; I‘m not fluent in the language of dance; I have limited experience with dance. But whenever GIORDANO DANCE COMPANY performs, I put my name in, purely because I love their work!

GIORDANO DANCE COMPANY’s 62^nd Season, SOARING, is a very special one for GDC. Artistic Director Nan Giordano is celebrating her 40^th year at the helm of the company her father Gus started in 1963.  Says Giordano, “I enter my 40th year with possibility, gratitude, energy & an untouchable source of energy.”

In this celebratory season Giordano has chosen to work with choreographers with whom she has special relationships. Ray Leeper's connection with GDC began decades ago with company founder Gus Giordano, who pulled the young Ray up on stage at a dance convention. Since then, Leeper has choreographed three full company works for GDC: “Feelin’ Good Sweet” in 2014, “Soul” in 2018, and now “Red & Black”, appearing in its world premiere.

GDC company dancer Adam Houston's "unconditional" featured a love story told with tender and impeccable partner work by Sasha Lazarus and Fernando Rodriquez. The choreography, more balletic than the classic jazz vernacular of the company, laid a serene aura across the auditorium. 

GDC Dancers in Red and Black.

GDC frequently punctuates its acts with brief videos that divulge historical and personal elements of the work. I particularly appreciated this with Marinda Davis’s extraordinary “Flickers” (2019). In the video Davis courageously describes her personal health journey through darkness, celebrating her indomitable spirit and unflinching quest for light. Davis enlivens the jazz-based aesthetic with brief paroxysms of ballet beats and hectic percussive shifts. See Chicago Dance calls “Flickers,” “…practically a genre unto itself.”

Emmy Award-winning choreographer and educator Al Blackstone created "Gershwin in B" to mark the 100-year anniversary of "Rhapsody in Blue". "Gershwin In B" moves the dancers about the stage with the joyous athleticism and buoyancy that GDC is known for. Using nine of Gershwin’s songs ranging from the less familiar to the acclaimed, Gershwin in B depicts the journey of one woman from youthful innocence to fearless maturity, with a red fedora appearing incidentally but significantly throughout her odyssey. The central character, danced superbly by Erina Ueda, carries the dramatic weight of the narrative on her shoulders.  As a whole the dance exhibits GDC’s professional skill and passion, impelling the dancers to go beyond dance to move the story forward. 

The theatre was filled with familiars of the company, making the performance feel very special and personal. Marinda Davis was seated just in front of us, and we enjoyed watching dozens of people battle the crowds to laud her personally. Seated just behind us were a couple of rows of youngsters who applauded many of the dancers so enthusiastically that I had to ask, “Do you know them?”  A lovely girl of eleven or twelve replied exuberantly, eyes sparkling, “They’re our teachers!”  If devotion and fervor are any measure, we will be seeing several of those girls onstage before long!

GIORDANO DANCE CHICAGO usually appears in brief runs, just 2-3 performances. Keep a close eye, for anything they do is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I thoroughly adored Dance Chicago’s Dances from the Heart curated by Artistic Director John Schmitz, the highlight of the show, which featured Canadian guest artist Azalea Kaviani and Jordan Faye, was the premiere of “Of the Sun” from the program; Fish of the Sun. Fish of the Sun tells the story of a little fish who has lost her father and goes on a long, challenging journey to find him again. Children have an innate need to be near their parents or caregivers; their lives revolve around them much like the planets revolve around the sun. As the lost fish struggles to find her father, she recalls the importance of the physical connection. This dance shows the benefit of creating space for work that is for by and about the nuanced experiences and artistic expression of people with disabilities.

Azalea Kaviani, who is also one of the artistic directors, dressed in a blue and white unitard with lighting that appeared to make her and her partner appear underwater was a delight to behold. She danced with grace and sensitivity. They conveyed the inner experience of the delicate, lost fish looking for her father. Jordan Faye was a wonderful supportive and strong dancer and partner. When Faye carried his daughter, the little fish, off of the stage it was the most touching and meaningful moment of this wonderful evening of dance. 

Having had two members of my immediate family, paralyzed by genetic ataxia, I sincerely hope that more artistic directors like Kaviani will get the support they need to utilize dancers in various stages of disability showing the world that beautiful interpretive dance is not limited.

Comedy Dance Chicago, with their opening number and titled “L – O – V – E,” brought out the light moments of comic relief and showed that anyone with any level of dance experience can still express themselves and the joy of dancing.

The two largest international dance troops, TRINITY Irish Dance ensemble with twenty-three dancers and Hromovytsia Ukrainian Dance Ensemble with fifty-one dancers, filled the stage with joy and tradition. These group dances, complete with wonderful, colorful costumes from each country, although completely different in style, conveyed how marvelous it is that young boys and girls together can dance together in freedom and safety, while in many parts of the world, this type of performance is either forbidden or impossible.

Gus Giordano Dance Company was fantastic with their numbers entitled “So Hot” and “Issa Vibe”. 

Soloist Sophia DeLeon Sanchez with the premiere of the dance, entitled “Letting Go“ was a stand out with her sensual, hypnotic and mature grace.

I was also impressed by tap dancer and soloist Trey Dumas. The first portion of his solo was an improvography in silence, which allowed the audience to hear the intricate beats that this long time tap dance teacher was able to create on the spot. But the second half of his program, which was set to the song autumn leaves with the original French lyrics by Jacques Peurye and performed by Leslie Odom Junior, really brought the light of his tap genius into the romantic program that fit perfectly with Dances from the Heart.

Hip Hop ConnXion family with eleven dancers took over the stage with great energy and verve in their dance entitled “I miss you”. Other wonderful contributions were made by Visceral Studio Company, Christine Rich Dance Theatre, Flamenco, Ramya Ravi, Kalakriti bharatanatyam, Culture Shock Chicago, Tap Icon Tre Dumas, Footprints Tap Ensemble, Forum Dance Theatre, Elevation Studio Company, and Wheatland Dance Theater.

Dances from the Heart at the lovely North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie was a full-length program with a complete variety of highest quality dance troops curated from all over Chicago and the country was two hours of enchantment with a 15 minute intermission. I highly recommend this program in the future for audiences of all ages.

Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) has been an integral part of Chicago’s performing arts community for 60 years – more than a half century of bringing groundbreaking commissions, instruction, outreach and (most of all) performances to Chicago and audiences worldwide. This year they are celebrating that 60^th anniversary with Season 60: Catch the Light, Feel the Radiance, Celebrate Giordano, a series of four performances over 2022/2023. This second work in the series was performed March 31 and April 1 at the Harris Theatre. In October 2022 I reviewed the initial production; it was absolutely spectacular. To my amazement, this second program was as good if not better!  

The company of dancers in GDC is extensive so I won’t name them – a full directory with bios is available on the website.

The organization of this production was ingenious, filling the ‘dead time’ between performances with videos where GDC directors and choreographers discuss the preparations for Season 60: Celebrate Giordano.  The first video, “The Magic of Giordano at 60”, introduced the performance of Sing, Sing, Sing. As in the October program, this first piece was one originally choreographed by Gus Giordano (1983) and refreshed by Nan Giordano for the occasion. 

The video “The Magic of Community” preceded the world premiere of Luminescence, specially commissioned in honor of Homer Hans Bryant and choreographed by the inimitable Kia Smith. This may have been my favorite of the night: the music was by U2 and Coldplay, two of my favorite bands; the costumes were totally stunning, and the dance very illustrative of the “Magic of Community”. GDC was joined by dancers from South Chicago Dance, each company enhancing the other. Every dancer’s movement was balanced and integrated with every other dancer: it was very much a company piece, headlining every dancer by spotlighting none.

The video “The Magic of Possibility” introduced La Belleza de Cuba, (The Beauty of Cuba), choreographed in 2013 by Liz Imperio and Whitney Anne Bezzant and danced by the entire GDC Company. The Latin music and costumes provided an intriguing foil to the other numbers.

At Intermission I spoke with several children – kids’ comments are always engaging and often very perceptive.  In addition to various iterations of “I wanna do that someday!” one little girl critiqued the format, saying “The movies were OK I guess, but I liked the other stuff better” – ‘other stuff’ presumably referring to the dancing.

The next number, Prey, is reputedly a favorite of the dancers. Choreographed in 2003 by Ron de Jesus, who also designed the costumes and sound, Prey is technically difficult but gratifying in that the dancers must place a great deal of trust in one another. Much of the movement involves dancers in groups of two, three, or more performing gymnastic stunts, from simply lifting and toting each other about the stage to complex aerobatics involving the entire company – a superb combination of floor exercise and Giordano dance. The powerful Giordano Technique of Jazz Dance is particularly compelling in combination with individual and collective gymnastic maneuvers. The Technique employs rhythmic complexity and precision and the consistent use of core while moving each part of the body in isolation. Stylistically, the dancers are regal and elegant but perform with kinetic urgency and vibrancy.  

The final number portrayed “The Magic of Our Dancers” with Randy Duncan’s 1997 Can’t Take That Away, featuring the Bourné family: Lisa (Mom), Elizabeth, Christina, Katherine, Paul, Timothy, Rebekah, Ehron, and John. Personally, I don’t much cotton to gospel music, but the Bournés are not gospel singers: their delivery of what from any other throats would be gospel transcends the genre – it eclipses music itself. The soaring sopranos seemed to lift the dancers ever higher in a primordial and sublime combination of music and motion.   

This finale, incorporating several gospel numbers and concluding with the title song, was dedicated as a farewell to Ashley Downes and Katie Rafferty, GDC dancers for over a decade. The company’s affection was evident in the esprit de corps the dancers brought to this final dance. Their jubilation spilled over the footlights and into the audience, bringing us to our feet. Finally, the dancers themselves cascaded from the stage to dance in the aisles with the audience, laughing and flinging droplets of sweat as the gamboled. I must admit I’m partial to a performance where I’m spritzed with the performers’ body fluids.

And the best part is that there will be two more performances of Season 60; Celebrate Giordano! I’ll definitely be there, and highly recommend that you check it out as well.

Nan Giordano, Giordano Dance Chicago’s Artistic Director and daughter of founder Gus Giordano, credits its devoted Board of Directors for GDC’s survival through ‘the dark years’ of the pandemic: “Beauty, Energy, Unity and Community are abundant.” Lockdown lifted just in time for the company’s 60^th anniversary show, fittingly named CATCH THE LIGHT.

The show begins with “Giordano Moves”, originally choreographed in 2005 by Gus Giordano and reconstructed in 2022 by Nan Giordano and Cesar G. Salinas. I’m intrigued by the use of 13 dancers – an odd number, yet the stage and action are perfectly balanced throughout. “Giordano Moves” features the essence of the classic Giordano technique, energized by active pelvis and precise, unconventional shoulder placement, with powerful jumps and turns.  The dance acts as a translation from the language of jazz music into the lexicon of the human body.

“commonthread”, choreographed in 2009 by Autumn Eckman, has a ritualistic feel to it, enhanced by Kam Hobb’s masterful light design. “commonthread” begins with five dancers huddled about a pulsating red light, like aboriginals crouching around a fire. As the music evolves the dancers unspool yet retain the primitive undercurrent. My companion (who studied dance growing up in Siberia) envisioned druids performing ancient rites in a primeval forest.

“Impulse”, created in 2006 by Tony Powell and reconstructed 2022 by Cesar G. Salinas, is a stirring yet unsettling experience. The dancers appear to be naked in flesh-colored leotards. Their angular and acrobatic movements are complemented by the music, which includes Ethos Percussion Group and Kodo Drummers of Japan. My mind kept conjuring words like abrasive, harsh, dehumanizing, even gruesome.  A performance that invokes such descriptors yet remains totally captivating is rare indeed.  

At the interval I asked a little girl (8 or 9, perhaps?) for her thoughts; she said, “They don’t have words like a play does, but they speak to us.”

“Groove, in formed” was created in 2019 by Peter Chu. Mr. Chu says, “[music & dance] connects humans at a profound level … rhythms can heal and bring communities together during times of sadness, grief, love, and joy”. The dance begins with a saxophone keening as half the dancers lug the others about: inanimate objects, to be positioned and postured like marionettes until a syncopated percussion returns them to life. “Groove, in formed” includes an exquisite male/male pas de deux. I’m partial to male/male pairings in art and performance – I wish the Olympic figure skating included male/male partner skaters: only imagine how fabulous if both skaters could perform lifts and throws! 

Or maybe I just like seeing boys with boys. Any road ….

We are treated to a world premiere of “lub-dub”, choreographed by Cesar G. Salinas, former GDC dancer and newly appointed Associate Artistic Director. The artist conceived the dance as representative of ‘the normal rhythms of the heart on auscultation’, which was my immediate association as well. The spectacular lighting illuminates the swirling skirts of the dancer’s red waistcoats – like the traffic of red corpuscles, unifying through the driving rhythms.

The final piece, “Soul”, was choreographed in 2018 by Ray Leeper in honor of Chicago philanthropist Candace Jordan. Always a crowd-pleaser, three well-known and beloved songs make for a spectacular ending. Imagination, by Gladys Knight and the Pips, features dancers in abbreviated black formalwear with sapphire bowties on the males and cummerbunds on the girls. At the end of the song the dancers all seem to drop to the ground, which I interpret as homage to the shooting deaths that are wreaking such havoc. In Al Green’s Can’t Get Next to You, various one duos play mating games onstage. And the finale, Tina Turner singing Proud Mary, brought the entire house to its feet. The standing ovation persisted through one curtain call after another; when the ensemble finally left the stage it was only to reappear dancing through the aisles. What a celebration!

Giordano Dance Chicago has done far more than simply survive the pandemic – it has used “the dark years” as a springboard, returning to the stage with all its elegance and vitality not simply revived but enriched.

Nan Giordano Artistic Director   

Michael McSraw Executive Director

ENSEMBLE: Brittany Brown, Joseph Cyranski, Ashley Downs, Ryan Galloway, Rosario Guillen, Amanda Hickey, Adam Houston, Emma Kempson, Sasha Lazarus, Zachary Morris, Skyler Newcom, Katie Rafferty, Fernando Rodriguez, Eduardo Zambrana

Giordano dance Chicago has opened its 2017 season with its Spring Series at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. Divided into six distinct pieces, the show is a high energy celebration of jazz dance; it’s well polished, exciting and expressive. Not a word is spoken, but each piece tells a story so vividly that one might wonder why we would need the spoken language after all.  Opening with ‘’Grusin Suite’’, featuring former Giordano Dance Chicago dancer and River North Dance Chicago Artistic Director Frank Chaves, it’s a 1993 re-staging set to the soundtrack for the film “The Firm”. Fluidity of the dance is complemented by the flowing fabrics of the uniform - like costumes of the dancers (costume design by Branimira Ivanova). The costumes are kept very simple throughout the show, and so nothing detracts from the dancers often moving in unison, always with intention and precision, and there’s always a story being unwrapped. After Grusin Suite comes dark Divided Against - A place painted is decidedly hostile with male dancers wearing robes and acting subservient to the female dancers, who are erect and unemotional. Choreographed by Peter Chu, music by Djeff Houle. Next comes blissfully tribal A Ritual Dynamic. Deeply satisfying both visually and auditorily, it’s Avatar-like in its feel. Choreographed by Jon Lwhrer, music by White Derbakeh and DJ Disse. 

After intermission we’re treated to Sneaky Pete, choreographed by Brock Clawson, music by Kerry Muzzey, Abel Korzeniowski, and Adam Crystal. A lot going on here: mating game between two dancers with the girl pursing the boy, while the rest of the troupe is “living their normal life”, a.k.a., dancing beautifully, of course. It ends with the boy upsetting the girl and suffering the consequences by getting ostracized by the rest of the troupe (the “society”?). Or, at least, that was my interpretation. I invite the reader to make their own impression. Next piece is a gorgeous The Man That Got Away, a 1990 classic. The girl wants a man, but he’s is indifferent. She tries many things: affection, seduction, reason, arguing, but nothing will melt his heart.  Set to Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin music performed by Judy Garland, it’s choreographed by Sherry Zunker. Featuring dancer Ashley Downs. Fun Fact: Sherry Zunker has gifted The Man That Got Away to Giordano Dance Chicago in honor of legendary Gus Giordano. It’s sexy and compelling; an absolute delight!

Last, but not least, is a world premiere of a dance called Lost in this World. Choreographed by Liz Imperio, who is hailed as choreographer to the stars. Her credits include the staging and choreography for Jennifer Lopez’s world tour “Dance Again” and directing/choreographing of three of Gloria Estefan’s world concert tours and two world tours for Madonna. Set to music by Ed Sheeran/Steve Mac/Johnny McDaid, and Raury Tullis, Lost in this World is very youthful.  Beautifully danced by the lead woman Maeghan McHale and lead men Devin Buchanan and Adam Houston.

The Giordano Dance Chicago Spring Series is performed at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. For more information on Giordano Dance Chicago visit http://giordanodance.org/.