The Bolshoi Ballet is returning to Chicago for the first time in sixteen years. The Russian ballet company will perform at the Auditorium Theatre in June 2020, which will be the only Midwest stop on their United States tour. The Bolshoi Ballet will perform Yuri Grigorovich’s Swan Lake, set to Tchaikovsky’s classic score. Grigorovich, who served as the Bolshoi’s director …

“I believe that Karenina is a magical moment of looking at our beautiful art form and taking it a step forward,” says Ashley Wheater, Joffrey Ballet’s artistic director. One of the cornerstones of the production is 35-year-old composer Ilya Demutsky’s brand new, full-length orchestral score, the first such commission in Joffrey’s 62-year history.

The season features four Chicago premieres and the return of two reimagined staples.

Joffrey Ballet’s artistic director, Ashley Wheater, and music director, Scott Speck, discuss “Swan Lake,” Joffrey’s 2018-19 season, and ballet’s unique and rich creative relationship with music.

Taylor kept working well into his 80s, venturing into his company’s Manhattan studios from his Long Island home to choreograph two new pieces a year.

From the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to Lyric Opera of Chicago and much more, the Teen Arts Pass is making it easier for young people to have access to Chicago’s many great cultural institutions.

Ever since its founding, the United States of America has been a melting pot of peoples. Here are 6 composers who came to the United States and called Los Angeles their home.

Here are just a few of our many favorite French composers, from medieval to modern, that might be new to you.

Getting into full costume and makeup to perform Chinese operas takes hours. You can see an artist from Chongqing Chuanju Opera Theatre transform herself in seconds.

Joffrey’s Scott Speck, who co-authored Classical Music for Dummies, explains how music helps to tell the stories you see on stage.

Kevin Ambrose, a theater student at Columbia College, loved to perform ever since he was a child, explained his mother Ebony. “I kind of grew up on Columbia’s campus, because my mom worked there,” Ebony said, “so I also grew up around the arts and always loved it. When it came time for me to have kids, I wanted them …

When Frédéric Chopin composed his Fantaisie-Impromptu, he probably didn’t expect for the work to serve as the music for a breakdance duet. But at Arabesque 2014, an international ballet competition hosted by the Perm Ballet Opera Theatre, one entry in the “modern choreography” category used Fantaisie-Impromptu for just that purpose. Fantaisie-Impromptu was written in 1834, but it wasn’t published until …

Arroz con gandules – a version of beans and rice using pigeon peas – is a staple of Puerto Rican cuisine. Because the dish is so affordable to prepare, it nourishes people from all walks of life and economic backgrounds. Bomba and plena, two forms of Puerto Rican folk music, have similarly nourished the commonwealth by uplifting working-class narratives and …

For jorsTap Chicago, a company that describes itself as “females disrupting the tap world,” dance functions not only as a storytelling medium but as a way to create safe spaces. The company’s latest project is a gender-inclusive re-telling of Hansel and Gretel created in collaboration with multimedia artist David Lee Csicsko. The original tale of a brother and sister who …

The newly announced season features the Monteverdi Choir, American Ballet Theatre, and the Mark Morris Dance Group performing “epic masterworks.”

Renowned choreographer Justin Peck took a break from his rehearsals with the Joffrey Ballet to explain what he listens for when selecting music to choreograph.

John Neumeier, director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet, directs, choreographs, and designs the production.

Dancer Anastacia Holden reflected that “as an artist, we’re always looking for new challenges, because they make us grow. It’s always great to do a new work and see a fresh take on this traditional holiday story.”

Martha Graham Dance Company’s Lloyd Mayor and Mariya Dashkina Maddux in “Appalachian Spring.” (Hibbard Nash Photography) When you think of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, do you think of iconic American landscapes? Would it surprise you to know that one of America’s most iconic musical works got its name after it was composed? Appalachian Spring, though perhaps known best as an orchestral suite, was …

“The last time we did this production, you could hear that people were really upset by it. And yet, there is absolutely beautiful choreography — it’s absolutely stunning.”

“I think I am one of the few American dancers who ever saw the Diaghilev ballet at the peak of its glory,” Sono Osato begins her autobiography Distant Dances. At the ripe age of 14, Osato became the first American dancer to join the Ballet Russes de Monte-Carlo, derived from Diaghilev’s famous Ballets Russes. With the company, she toured the …

Thousands of years before European ballet was born, Bharatanatyam flourished in India. The ancient art of Bharatanatyam seems to be having a bit of a moment in modern times. Months after appearing in Chicago, dancer Aparna Ramaswamy recently made her debut at the Joyce Theater in New York: one small step for a Bharatanatyam dancer, one giant, dazzling leap for Bharatanatyam …

One of the most unique styles of dance today is undoubtedly butoh. I spoke with dancer and choreographer Ushio Amagatsu as he tours across North America with his company, Sankai Juku. The New York Times called Sankai Juku, “One of the most original and startling dance theater groups to be seen.” Read our conversation to learn more about butoh, Amagatsu’s …

Choreographer John Neumeier said that in his reinterpretation of Sylvia, he “tried to invent a movement vocabulary that would suit each of the characters.”

Choreographer and modern dance maven Claire Bataille: “But gender discrimination is really no different in the dance world from what it is in the corporate world…”