New Dances 2009 July 17 & 18 at 8 p.m. & July 19 at 5 p.m. ALL PERFORMANCES SOLD OUT Ruth Page Center for the Arts 1016 North Dearborn, Chicago Thodos Dance Chicago proudly concludes its 17th anniversary season celebration with its 9th annual presentation of New Dances, a new choreography project critically recognized for its contribution to contemporary dance.   New Dances 2009 will feature 9 exciting world premiere works by Thodos dancer/choreographers: Special guest choreographer Elijah Gibson is choreographing an ensemble work based on the relationship of a couple and their interaction with others, individually and as a couple. The Before and After is set to music by French-Israeli singer/songwriter Yael Naim. Jessica Miller Tomlinson sets a work for 9 dancers to music from Russian composers Dmitri Shostakovich and Alfred Schnittke. Ms. Tomlinson’s work, Architecture: Splintered and Cracked, is about a wall of bodies consistently traveling back and forth across the stage. As the dancers pass through, over, and under the wall, their movement quality changes in dynamic and involves complex partnering. The program also features TDC veteran dancer/choreographer Christine Marie Rohde who celebrates her final performances as an ensemble member before departing to the University of Boulder for graduate study. Ms. Rohde has set solo choreography titled memento for this year’s program. Her work employs the use of a box where the dancer’s memories are stored. Set to the respective music of Feist’s Honey Honey, Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears’ Boogie, and Stephen Sondheim’s Send in the Clowns, the work features lyric, athletic and stylized movement as the dancer realizes how her memories will influence her future.  A collaborative creation from Jeremy Blair and Mollie Mock for seven dancers, Reflect, reveals the world of hidden passion as a soloist reflects on her past. ‘Ohana composer and producer and TDC resident composer, John Nevin, contributes an original score entitled Hidden for the work.  The music is orchestral and includes an immensely complex percussion section. Dori Santarsiere’s work is set to music selected from the sound tracks of American Beauty and Requiem for a Dream.  No Where, No When is inspired by the writings of Albert Einstein during the years leading up to the publication of his theories of Special Relativity and General Relativity.  Set on two men and five women, the movement explores Einstein's theory on the entangled relationship between space and time and the possibility of travel through both. Wade Schaaf’s Awakening is about a community of people, giving the audience a view into this community from a silent observer’s perspective, almost like reality TV. The audience will observe this community as it goes through an evolutionary process, where each individual arrives in the truth of who they are in the course of the work. Justin Sears explores a male dancer’s experience with the various generations of women who have influenced his life. These influences represent the tension and separation that can occur in loving relationships as evidenced in the emotions of vanity, guilt and jealousy. SPEAK! is set to an original score by Chicago musician Matthew Schaefer. Jackie Stewart contributes E-ffect, a piece with six dancers addressing human relations affected by modern technology. Natalie Tursi’s Fitting Pieces is a work for seven dancers set to the music of Promised Land and Two Lone Swordsmen. Inspired by the idea of a jigsaw puzzle, the piece explores concepts of fitting together, falling apart, and delicate balance through shape-oriented choreography.  “The 17th Anniversary Season of Thodos Dance Chicago is a reflection of our growth as a dance company that teaches, choreographs, and performs,” said Founder and Artistic Director Melissa Thodos. “Our New Dances choreography project embodies the dance creation component of the Company’s mission, enabling talented dance artists to express their own choreographic visions.” Thodos Dance Chicago’s New Dances project is unique in Contemporary Dance in America and has enabled more than fifty Chicago-based choreographers to develop their skills, create new work, and have it performed in a professional concert environment. Over one hundred Chicago-based dance artists have performed in New Dances over the previous 6 years. Many works from New Dances have been selected for Thodos Dance Chicago’s own repertory, as well as that of The Joffrey Ballet. Elijah Alhadji Gibson - Teacher, choreographer, and dancer in demand, Mr. Gibson is currently on faculty at the Shenandoah University Conservatory in Winchester, VA.  Originally from San Diego, CA, he attended San Diego School for the Performing Arts and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance and Choreography from Sam Houston State University. While there, Mr. Gibson performed with Spectrum Dance Company, Raven Dance Project, and the City Dance Company of Houston.  He joined Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in 2000 where he performed for eight years. He has worked with or performed the works of Tony Powell, Christopher Huggins, the late Gus Giordano, Liz Imperio, Mia Michaels, Jon Lehrer, and Randy Duncan, among many others.  He has performed and taught throughout the United States as well as in Germany, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Latvia, and Mexico. Mr. Gibson has served on the faculties of the American College Dance Festival Association, Jazz Dance World Congress, Dance Masters of Wisconsin, and the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters and his choreography has been performed by many local Chicago dance companies, as well as by university dance ensembles throughout the country.  Thodos Dance Chicago is thrilled to welcome an artist of this caliber as guest choreographer for its New Dances Choreography Performance Series.   Dance Critic Lucia Mauro wrote: “Without a doubt, Thodos Dance Chicago's 'New Dances’ program provides much-needed creative and performance experience for emerging dance artists. But what sets it apart from other showcases for developing artists is that it doesn’t settle for highlighting new choreography for its own sake. The initiative has more recently grown into a discerning forum that presents works worthy of being called finished products instead of ‘in progress.’ This year marked a key turning point as company members and the guest choreographer displayed exceptional creativity, conciseness and attention to form. The most successful pieces combined social or psychological exploration with new ways of moving and partnering. All the artists should be proud of their work… Keep creating, taking chances and discovering your artistic voices.”