Local Artists, Faculty, and Alumni Perform at The Dance Center

Chicago dance artists The Space/Movement Project, Rachel Damon/Synapse Arts, and Erica Mott join together for Receiver a shared program exploring the varying degrees of theatricality in contemporary dance. They will perform at The Dance Center on Thursday, March 8, through Saturday, March 10, at 8 p.m.

In Kiss Kiss Missiles, seven-member dance collective The Space/Movement Project uses social dance tradition combined with the misunderstandings of present-day interaction. In a series of makeshift line dances, the dynamic work assembles surging directional changes, fleeting partnerships and mismatched patterning. Quickly shifting spatial configurations reveal synchronicities that twinkle and dissolve as the performers aim to maintain individuality. Chicago designer Britton Esposito designed the costumes and alumna Larisa Eastman performs.

Alumna and Synapse Arts Artistic Director Rachel Damon uses improvisation to challenge her collaborators in real time in Without Pause, and invites the viewer to experience morphing body states as they unfold. The piece travels a changing landscape of live sound, water and motion to evoke the kaleidoscopic selves and keen instincts present in us all. The music of percussionist Frank Rosaly, performed live, heightens the impact of Damon’s intrepid work. Alumnus Matthew McMunn also performs with the group.

Choreographer and performance maker Erica Mott uses humor and surprise to explore polar opposites, incorporating dance, object manipulation and sculptural costuming in Five Gaits, Four Walls, Fourteen Knots, a sweeping landscape of maverick abandon, aggressive territoriality and lonely constriction. The performance investigates the connection between the male body, the wilderness and the acquisition of land as well as the imagination's attachment to the romanticized and mythical outlaw hero. In collaboration with Mott, former faculty Ryan Ingebritsen is devised a multi-layered sound score and faculty Bryan Saner performs.

Alumna Lauren Warnecke serves as project manager for the Receiver program.

For tickets, contact the box office at 312-369-8330 or go online.

In addition to regular performances, join us for a Post-Performance Conversation on Thursday, March 8, and a FamilyDance Matinee on Saturday, March 10, at 3 p.m. You can also get your matinee tickets online.