Let's Talk Dance Spaces in Chicago - Part 2

14 Mar

Let’s Talk Dance Spaces in Chicago – Part 2

A dancer in a red dress bends backward with their face up toward a clear, blue sky, while surrounded by green bushes and trees.

Post by Nejla Yatkin, Irene Hsiao, Ayako Kato and in collaboration with Shawn Lent

SPACE has long been a concern for dancemakers in Chicago, seeking out places for artistic exploration, process and practice, project development, public presentation, and more. In this blog initiative, artists share lists of their own favorite dance spaces in the Chicago area, as well as their individual perspectives on criteria. This is an ongoing blog series which launched last week with a list from Ladonna Freidheim, Executive Director of ReinventAbility.

This week we are thinking about the OUTDOORS. From the Bud Billiken Parade (since 1929) to the Annual Chicago Powwow (in its 69th year), outdoor space continues to be vital for many local dance communities. In addition, independent dancemakers who create site-specific work in natural spaces must navigate certain considerations: such as physical accessibility, walking distances, natural challenges (direct sunlight, bugs, inclement weather, uneven ground, etc), electrical and bathroom access, park design and architecture, emergency preparedness, factors of environmental (in)justice, sacredness and rituals of a place, as well as both ancestral and contemporary matters regarding land ownership, stewardship, and permission. As an interesting case study, you can check out how Nico Rubio, Erin Kilmurray, Nejla Yatkin, and Ayako Kato navigated these considerations when Chicago Dancemakers Forum partnered with marsh spaces on the Southeast Side for “Natural Encounters” in 2019.

In the following post, Nejla Yatkin (2019 Lab Artist), Irene Hsiao (2020 Lab Artist) and. Ayako Kato (2007 Lab Artist) share their favorite Chicago spaces for dance out-of-doors. What they offer here gives us a look into how they each approach this work. Afterward, we link to relevant resources and share information on upcoming events.

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Our Favorite Outdoor Dance Spaces in Chicago

by Nejla Yatkin, Irene Hsiao, and Ayako Kato

From Nejla:

I like to look for spaces that can be a natural backdrop and that can be used as inspiration for the dancework. I don’t like to disturb nature but collaborate with the spaces. The spaces should have a welcoming and intimate atmosphere but also be accessible for a broad community.

1) I love the Burnham Wildlife Corridor. There are many beautiful and accessible spaces where dance can happen. Also the lakefront at Burnham Wildlife corridor is spectacular. The Wildlife Corridor runs from McCormick Place south to East 47th Street.

2) Also the Gathering Spaces at Burnham Wildlife Corridor are great intimate spaces where performances in circles can happen. I think there are six of them.

3) The Garden Of The Phoenix in Jackson Park (6401 S. Stony Island Ave) is an enclosed Japanese Garden that has multiple small spaces where dance can happen while audiences wander around in the beauty of the Garden. Plus Skylanding by Yoko Ono (north side of Wooded Island in the park) is a great sculpture that dance can be designed in and around. Additionally, the rest of Jackson Park has a lot of possibilities.

4) Palmasino Park is a little gem. The Park Is very accessible and you can use the entire Park as a performative space.

5) Humboldt Park is a beautiful Park with multiple spaces. Some are more accessible than others.

6) The South Pond Nature Boardwalk, designed by Studio Gang, is a gorgeous space to perform especially because it has multiple spaces that could function as stage settings around the South Pond in Lincoln Park Zoo. The Boardwalk is also very accessible.

7) North Pond at Lincoln Park Zoo is beautiful but less accessible for people. I think they are working on it in the next two years.

8) The Montrose Bird Sanctuary area is gorgeous but I would recommend to dance in silence so as not to disturb the birds. Located in Lincoln Park, 200 W. Montrose Harbor Dr.

Irene Hsiao, still from a test video for “In Place: Medium, Image, Landscape” 2021

From Irene:

The outdoors are an unlimited resource — you can dance outside anywhere, anytime! And every space is an environment with energy, rhythm, structures, history, memories, and forms of life that are present before and after we enter. The first score for In Place, a project inspired by the exhibition Toward Common Cause at the Smart Museum, invites participants to meditate on a landscape through movement. To me, a landscape isn’t necessarily a natural space — rather, it is a place created by our seeing it — and being with it in whatever capacity it inspires in us. Please join me if you like — submissions are still open.

From Ayako:

South Shore Cultural Center Park and South Shore Beach
Northerly Island Park
North Park Village Nature Center Park
Steelworkers Park
Under the L track

Ayako Kato from “Inception: ETHOS Episode II” Photo by Ricardo Adame

Why:

In terms of the natural sites, what I look for is the spirit of the place. When I resonate with a place, I am moved by the movements of wind, plants, waves, rivers, insects, sand, trees, soil, birds, and any other animals, pushing and pulling through cyclical symbiotic energy in nature. I reflect on the history of the land and of the place. I sense how the space has been cared for. I want to show my respect, care, and appreciation through my dance. The rhythm of the place inspires me. In that sense, in urban sites, amongst the man-made structures, movements, and rhythms created by cars, trains, people, noise, lights, bridges and skyscrapers, I sense my body-mind wants to prove the organic nature-self in the environment, as if the plants grow cracking the concrete sidewalk, extending roots, stems, and leaves even anonymously, breathing. Air/Atmosphere moves me as music moves me. Yet, I also wish to (shifting, if it’s not desirable, and) elevate ANY quotidian places and moments, excavating their innate beauty.

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A FEW RESOURCES

Chicago Park District
Pokégnek Bodéwadmik (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi) and Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago by John N. Low
Native Land Digital Map and #HonorNativeLand – U.S. Department of Arts and Culture
Audubon Society – Great Lakes
The Nature Conservancy in Illinois
Global Water Dances (Dancemakers can sign up now for June 2023)
American Red Cross – Adult, Child and Baby First Aid/CPR/AED Online Class

A FEW RELEVANT UPCOMING EVENTS

June 10, Open Labs, 7 pm @ High Concept Labs (the shared evening of ETHOS III (Ayako Kato) work-in-progress showing)
To Be Announced, Nejla Yatkin roaming and popping up as Firebird in 21 park locations the month of June to welcome summer as part of Night Out In the Parks.
To Be Announced, more works from Irene Hsiao in residence at the Smart Museum.
June 16 and 18, Nejla Yatkin performance as part of the New Works Festival at Links Hall.

Header Image: Nejla Yatkin in “Conference of the Birds” at Burnham Wildlife Corridor, photo by Enki Andrews [ID: A dancer in a red dress bends backward with their face up toward a clear, blue sky, while surrounded by green bushes and trees.]