The McAninch Arts Center (MAC), located at 425 Fawell Blvd., hosts a must-see evening of jazz dance featuring America’s original jazz dance company, Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC), 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15. Now celebrating its 60th anniversary season, GDC will perform a selection of some of the most popular works in the company’s repertoire and give the MAC audience a preview of a new work by GDC’s new Associate Artistic Director Cesar G. Salinas. Following the performance, Salinas will lead a disco-inspired dance class from the Belushi stage. The post-show class is free for all patrons who attended the show and all skill levels are welcomed.
Fernando Rodriguez and Katie Rafferty. Photo by Todd Rosenberg
Program highlights include:
• Tony Powell’s electrifying “Impulse” (2006). This will be the first time in more than 13 years GDC has performed this work.
• A preview of a new work by former GDC company dancer and newly-appointed Associate
Artistic Director Cesar G. Salinas. Salinas sets this new piece for five dancers to music by Travis Lake and Medwyn Goodall, connecting through the heartbeat and creating unification of driving rhythms.
The program also features:
• “Giordano Moves” (2005), set to an original music score by George McRae, featuring the es-sence of the classic Giordano technique created by GDC founder Gus Giordano, remounted by Nan Giordano.
• Autumn Eckman’s “commonthread” (2009), performed to an eclectic original music composi-tion by musician Dan Myers.
• “Groove, in formed” (2019) by international dancemaker Peter Chu. This fluid, contemporary full company work explores the rhythmic composition of jazz dance by examining many cul-tural and social dances that influenced and shaped the art form.
• “SOUL” (2018) by “So You Think You Can Dance” choreographer Ray Leeper, This rousing crowd-pleaser features music by Gladys Knight and the Pips, Al Green and Tina Turner. “The company pulls out all the stops, exalting each other in spectacular lifts, leaps, and general rejoicing” (SeeChicagoDance).
GDC is an iconic cultural organization and an integral part of Chicago’s vibrant performing arts community. From its origins in founder Gus Giordano’s original school in Evanston, Ill., to its current incarnation as a world-class dance company, GDC boasts over a half-century of worldwide performances (28 countries, 47 states, more than 1,300 cities) with an imprint on the art form of jazz dance that is far-reaching and significant. For 38 years GDC has been under the Artistic Leadership of Nan Giordano who is responsible for commissioning numerous groundbreaking works, the mentoring of hundreds of young dancers and choreographers, and the development of the Nan Giordano Certification Program®. The Program, which offers multi-level instruction and certification in the pro-prietary Giordano Technique, has certified dance educators in 36 states and seven countries, all inte-grating the Technique into their college, high school, and studio programs. Each Spring, GDC’s “Jazz Dance/Science & Health” program teaches elementary school anatomy and nutrition through a dance-centric program in CPS science classrooms. For more information about GDC, visit www.giordanodance.org.
Tickets:
The McAninch Arts Center, located at 425 Fawell Blvd. on the campus of College of DuPage on Sun-day, presents Giordano Dance Chicago 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15. Tickets are $49 – $55. Following the performance, audiences have the opportunity to experience a post-performance disco-inspired dance class. For tickets or additional information, call 630.942.4000 or visit www.AtTheMAC.org. Box Office hours are Tuesday – Saturday, noon – 6 p.m. and three hours prior to performance.
About the MAC:
McAninch Arts Center (MAC) at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355 at 425 Fawell Blvd. It houses three indoor performance spaces (the 780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; the 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and the versatile black box Studio The-atre), an outdoor venue, the Lakeside Pavilion, plus the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and classrooms for the college’s academic programming. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 2 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 100,000 pa-trons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season.
The mission of the MAC is to foster enlightened educational and performance opportunities, which encourage artistic expression, establish a lasting relationship between people and art, and enrich the cultural vitality of the community. For more information about the MAC, visit www.AtTheMAC.org, @AtTheMAC on Facebook and Instagram.
Support for the McAninch Arts Center is provided in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Follett, and the College of DuPage Foundation. Hotel sponsor is DoubleTree by Hilton Lisle/Naperville; Media Sponsor is WDCB 90.9 FM.
Established as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization in 1967, the College of DuPage Foundation raises monetary and in-kind gifts to increase access to education and to enhance cultural opportunities for the surrounding community. For more information about the College of DuPage Foundation, visit www.foundation.cod.edu or call 630.942.2462.