Photo Gallery
Dance Tribute to Matei Visniec with Trap Door Theatre - Sept 2021. Once again, covid has put a healthy restriction on the arts. But! We are figuring out this digital world dagnabbit. Here's a show I directed for Trap Door Theatre that pays (dance + video) tribute to the poetic works of Matei Visniec's Dinner With Marx. Full video playlist here.
Dance Tribute 2020, to Whoever the ef We Want - Dec 2020. Instead of gathering en masse during covid times, we collected virtually to create some mini tributes to whoever the ef we wanted to. Full Dance Tribute 2020 playlist features various artists who pay tribute to various artists.
Videos are currently being released in installments throughout January. Art will never die. Stay safe friends. We are going to make it!!
Videos are currently being released in installments throughout January. Art will never die. Stay safe friends. We are going to make it!!
Dance Tribute to Chi-Lites - Aug-Oct 2019. Montage here. As part of Collaboraction's Peacebook Festival, Dance Tribute to Chi-Lites performs in Englewood, Douglas Park, and Millenium Park. With a tight cast of 11, and a mission for accessibility, this year's Dance Tribute performed for free, in locations throughout Chicago, outside of the city's theatre districts.
Dance Tribute to Nasty Buoy. November 2018. - What happens at Nasty Buoy, stays at Nasty Buoy.
Dance Tribute to Mark Messing - May 2017. Our first dance tribute to a local artist! Mark Messing is a badass, and so was this show. 86 (yes 86!!) Chicago performers paid tribute to this brilliant Chicagoan's music. Guest choreographers: Actors Gymnasium, Amelia Hefferon, Diane Mair, Emily Loar, Jacki Melnyk, Kathleen Hoil and Brittany Anderson, Laura Korn, Lily Emerson, Manual Cinema, The Unicorn Hour, Vanessa Valliere and Lindsey Whiting.
Dance Tribute to Jock Jams, July 2016. Sweet montage here. On July 25th, 2016, we paid tribute to JOCK JAMS!! With a grand total of 81 Chicago performers involved (whaa?!!), we choreographed and performed live dance tributes to Jock Jams' finest hits. Guest choreographers were: The Comedy Dance Collective, Emily Loar, Amelia Hefferon, The? Unicorn? Hour?, Noah Applebaum and Kelly Nesheim, Jyl Fehrenkamp, and Alexander Knapp.
Dance Tribute to Aphex Twin, April 2015. (Sweet video montage here.) On April 27th, 2015, Aphex Twin's finest works were set to choreography and performed live at Martyr's, with 77 (!!!) local Chicago performers, in one hour's time (!!!!). This Tribute also featured the digital projection work of Chicago's Drmbt, in collaboration with Charles Otto. Guest choreographers: Aerial Dance Chicago, Noah Applebaum, Callie Croom, Trevor Dawkins, Dean Evans, Mike Hamilton, Charlotte Kahler, Kasumi Kato, Alexander Knapp, Knife and Fork, Emily Loar, Kelly Nesheim, and Tony Santiago. Holy emmer effin cannoli people.
Dance Tribute (abridged) to David Bowie, September 2014. At the MCA!!! As part of the David Bowie Variety Hour (programming for David Bowie Is... Exhibit at MCA), curated by Jyl Fehrenkamp, we took two Bowie's tunes of perfection, Seven Years in Tibet and Golden Years, and turned them into a sad-happy micro Dance Tribute. Too much fun was had here. Thanks to everyone involved!
Dance Tribute to Bjork, June 9, 2014 - (Sweet video montage here.) Twenty-three tunes were chosen from the brilliant music library of Bjork, set to choreography, and performed live by over 50 Chicago performers (52 to be exact). Myself and five guest choreographers masterminded the pieces. Guest choreographers were: Jyl Fehrenkamp, Knife and Fork, Dean Evans, Tara Smith, and Callie Croom. The hour-long performance was followed by "the dance party of your lives", with Dj Drmbt mixing a Bjork-inspired set. This was the first Dance Tribute to have had children in the cast, and I must admit to you all, they know how to start a dance party better than anyone I've ever seen. We're talking sassy cartwheels people.
Dance Tribute to David Lynch, July 17, 2013 - (Sweet video montage here.)Twenty-two tunes were chose from the film soundtracks and music albums of David Lynch (minus his the soundtrack from his film The Straight Story). The 50-minute performance was preceded by a pre-show montage of Lynch edits from both his feature films and his shorts, projected on the big screen. After the performance, DJ Naples took us through the best dance party of our lives using only David Lynch tunes, accompanied by a video projection mix of Lynch clips, both disturbing and beautiful.
Dance Tribute to Mr. Bungle, October 23, 2012 - featured over thirty-seven Chicago dancers/movers, shaking their bods to the tunes of Mr. Bungle. Allow me take a moment and tell you the following: I love Mr. Bungle. Okay. Now, Mr. Bungle is an experimental band that first formed in Northern California in 1985, featuring weirdo punk/heavy/jazz/coocoo musicians like Mike Patton, Trey Spruance, Trevor Dunn, Clinton McKinnon, Danny Heifetz, and John Zorn to name a few. I selected twelve of their tunes (at least two from every album,and many from their album California), and set them to choreography that was meant for them. It was awesome. Joe BBall followed the performance with a most excellent set of tunes to dance to. Naturally.