From ballet to jazz to folk, Chicago’s fall dance season features all the moves
Chicago’s 2024-25 dance season is full of new works, captivating collaborations and welcome revivals. There’s something for everyone with the Windy City’s famed dance companies that specialize in ballet, modern and folk dance traditions. Internationally famed dance companies are also in the mix since Chicago is a prized touring stop.
Ballet passion
The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago has snagged the U.S. premiere of the new story ballet “Atonement” (Oct. 17-27), which had its world premiere earlier this year with Ballett Zürich in Switzerland. This ballet, with an original score by Laura Rossi, is inspired by Ian McEwan’s bestselling 2001 novel “Atonement” and its seven-time Academy Award-nominated film adaptation from 2007.
“Atonement” marks the Joffrey return of choreographer Cathy Marston, whose ballet adaptation of “Jane Eyre” made its Chicago debut in 2019. Marston has once again found inspiration from literature, so it will be intriguing to see how the novel’s passionate affair and false accusations are transformed into dance movement.
Another Marston work, “Heimat” is featured in the Joffrey repertory program “Golden Hour” (Feb. 20-March 2). Other works by choreographers Yuri Possokhov (“Andante”), Nicholas Blank (“Under the Trees’ Voices”) and Dani Rowe (“Princess and the Pea”) are also on the bill.
The Joffrey concludes its season at the Lyric Opera House as the first American company to perform choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s wildly successful and critically acclaimed 2011 adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (June 5-15).
Wheeldon is also the choreographer behind the Joffrey’s homegrown take on “The Nutcracker” (Dec. 6-28). Originally staged in 2016, the Joffrey’s “Nutcracker” transports Tchaikovsky’s 1892 Christmas ballet to Chicago’s historically influential 1893 World’s Fair.
Chicago-based Ballet 5:8 has a busy fall season. The company teams up with Chicago a cappella for a local tour of “Lamentations,” which brings contemporary movement to Thomas Tallis’ “Lamentations of Jeremia.” Performances are in Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park and Naperville from Sept. 27 to Oct. 6.
Ballet 5:8 also presents choreographer Julianna Rubio Slager’s modern take on the Mexican myth of “La Llorona” at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance Oct. 5 and 6.
Chicago Repertory Ballet is also on the move with a fall performance series called “Move on Up!” at the Ruth Page Center in Chicago on Nov. 15 and 17. The company also tours to Elgin Community College’s Blizzard Theater for a performance on Nov. 23.
The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine tours back to the Chicago area with all three of Tchaikovsky’s classic 19th-century ballets. “The Nutcracker” makes an early seasonal appearance at Chicago’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance on Nov. 14, while “Sleeping Beauty” will awaken at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan on Nov. 15. Then “Swan Lake” emerges at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie on Nov. 20.
Contemporary and jazz
The 47th season of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago sees the esteemed modern company team up with the Fosse Verdon Legacy, a foundation created to preserve and perpetuate the works of Broadway and Hollywood choreographer Bob Fosse and his longtime muse, Gwen Verdon.
Hubbard Street’s Fall and Spring Series features “Sweet Gwen Suite,” a collaboration between Fosse and Verdon. This dance piece makes its company debut at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, where Hubbard Street’s Fall Series also includes revivals by choreographers Kyle Abraham (“Show Pony”), Lar Lubovitch (“Prelude to a Kiss”) and Aszure Barton (“return to patience” and “BUSK”).
Hubbard Street returns to the Harris Theater in Chicago for its Winter Series (Feb. 13-16) and Spring Series (May 16-18). For details, visit hubbardstreetdance.com.
Giordano Dance Chicago, America’s first company specializing in jazz dance, launches its fall season on Oct. 25 and 26 at the Harris Theater. There’s a world premiere by “Dancing With the Stars” choreographer Ray Leeper, the return of Al Blacksone’s “Gershwin in B,” Marinda Davis’ “Flickers,” Adam Housement’s “Unconditional” and Autumn Eckman’s “Yes, And...”
The Harris Theater also plays host to three intriguing tours of contemporary dance.
Ballet star Wendy Whelan is featured in “Carnival of the Animals,” an evening-length work written and conceived by spoken-word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph created in response to the events of Jan. 6, 2021. It features choreography and direction by Francesca Harper, and is a take off on Camille Saint-Saëns’ classic orchestral suite. It plays on Oct. 14.
Ballet X, a contemporary ballet company based out of Philadelphia, performs a mixed repertory program on Nov. 21. On the bill is the Chicago premiere of Jennifer Archibald’s “Exalt,” which takes inspiration from ballet and house music.
“Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” is a Canadian movement and multimedia interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy by choreographer Guillaume Côté and former Cirque du Soleil director Robert Lepage. The Côté Danse and Ex Machina collaboration plays Nov. 23 and 24.
Chicago’s Red Clay Dance Company, which specializes in what it calls Afro-contemporary dance, presents its Fall Series called “Turning Points” Oct. 25 and 26 at the University of Chicago’s Reva and David Logan Center. On the mixed bill is Lela Aisha Jones’ “We all ‘gon die: into revivals,” Amansu Eason’s “DevelopMino” and company artistic director Vershawn Sanders-Ward’s “Unconditional Conditions.”
Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art plays host to two local dance/performance art companies this fall. Up first is cat mahari’s “blk ark: the impossible manifestation” (Sept. 28 and 29), which promises to be an interactive performance and art installation that mixes hip-hop, film and semi-improvisational sound. The museum also hosts Visceral Dance Chicago’s fall engagement Nov. 21-24.
Contemporary dance with heavy hip-hop influences arrives with Chicago Dance Crash’s fall engagement of “Rubbernecks” on Oct. 4 and 5 at the Ruth Page Center. This concert marks the first show of new artistic director KC Bevis and includes the world premiere of “On to the Other” by choreographer Elijah Motley, plus a revival of Ibrahim Sabbi’s “Necked up, Cosmically.”
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago is set to host visiting and local companies that blend folk and contemporary dance. Step Afrika! is an African American dance company dedicated to percussive dance styles. It performs on Saturday, Oct. 19.
For nearly three decades, Chicago’s Deeply Rooted Dance Theater has blended contemporary with African American traditions in dance and storytelling. The company’s fall engagement at the Auditorium Theatre is Nov. 16.
More literal percussion is part of the male Argentinean dance troupe MALEVO. As seen on “America’s Got Talent,” MALEVO drums its way to College of DuPage’s McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn on Sept. 28.
Festival samplers
A great way to see several smaller dance troupes is through locally produced dance festivals.
The return of the free CHICAGO LIVE! arts festival at Chicago’s Navy Pier Sept. 21 and 22 features a plethora of Chicago dance companies such as the Joel Hall Dancers, Lucky Plush Productions, Muntu Dance Theatre and more.
The Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival (Sept. 27 and 28) plays the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in Chicago. Just a few of the local companies include Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Giordano II, South Chicago Dance Theatre and The Seldoms, plus visiting troupes from California, Florida and Michigan. A full roster can be found at hccdf.com.
Mixed Nutcrackers
It wouldn't be a holiday season in the U.S. without Tchaikovsky’s classic Christmas ballet “The Nutcracker.” Audiences can choose from a variety of homegrown and touring productions.
Long before “The Nutcracker” with the Joffrey Ballet became the main professional Chicago production, “Ruth Page’s Nutcracker” was an annual tradition at McCormick Place’s Arie Crown Theater. “Ruth Page’s Nutcracker” can be seen again this year at College of Lake County’s James Lumber Center for the Arts in Grayslake Dec. 21-22.
Another Lake County tradition is Dancenter North’s “The Magic of the Nutcracker,” which is famed for featuring more than 100 performers. This 36th annual run returns to the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan Dec. 19-20.
Chicago’s Athenaeum Theatre also plays host to many different takes on this Christmas chestnut. The Grand Kyiv Ballet tours with “The Nutcracker” Nov. 16-17, while Ballet 5:8 presents “Beyond the Nutcracker” Nov. 30-Dec. 1. A & A Ballet’s “The Art Deco Nutcracker” makes a return on Dec. 7, while the venue is also expected to host the return of Ballet Chicago’s “The Nutcracker.”
A tour of “Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet” returns to the Rosemont Theatre Dec. 8.
And more touring is involved with Westmont-based Salt Creek Ballet and its version of “The Nutcracker.” It plays Hinsdale Central (Nov. 30-Dec. 1), the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie (Dec. 6-7) and the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn (Dec. 14-15). The College of DuPage performances feature live accompaniment from the resident ensemble of the New Philharmonic.
The Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts once again hosts Schaumburg Dance Ensemble for its 29th annual “Nutcracker” Dec. 5-15.