Third Annual Contemporary Dance Series Spin Off Begins Next Week

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is pleased to announce the lineup for SpinOff 2015 taking place November 5-21. A celebration of contemporary dance created by emerging and established artists from the Midwest, SpinOff will feature Chicago and world premieres, as well as excerpts from works-in-progress. All performances are FREE and take place in various locations including the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington Street), Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph) and the Storefront Theater (66 E. Randolph).

Opening weekend of SpinOff features the world premiere of And We Shall Be Rid of Them by Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak taking place at the Dance Studio in the Chicago Cultural Center, November 5-7 at 6:30 p.m. The performance marks the first time collaboration between long-time colleagues Shanahan and Jeff Hancock who have been developing the work since 2012. With freewheeling inspiration from Grimm's Hansel and Gretel, the performance explores themes of loss and abandonment, as well as identity and gender, through a highly vulnerable dance experience.

Leaping across the street, the world premiere of Bottom's Edge by The Space Movement Project takes place indoors on the Jay Pritzker Pavilion Stage at Millennium Park, November 6 and 7 at 8 p.m. In culmination of the company's 10th Anniversary, Bottom's Edge is an exploration of the ecological and social impact of the development of Chicago's original prairie landscape. The work considers the presence of endings throughout natural and manmade cycles-a seemingly infinite natural expanse, a swift devastation and a system's capacity to regenerate itself. Visual elements are inspired by the city's original terrain and current urban landscapes in commemoration of the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial.

Brooklyn's most beloved multi-disciplinary, rough-and-ready performance series, CATCH makes its Chicago premiere on November 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Storefront Theater. Bringing together performance mayhem from Midwest-based artists, CATCH features more than 10 artists, including Minneapolis-based performers Chris Schlichting and Chris Yon. Curated with delicate irreverence by Andrew Dinwiddie, Jeff Larson and Caleb Hammons, The New York Times described CATCH as "Consistently entertaining, stimulating, thought-provoking and irreverent."

The last weekend of Spinoff 2015 debuts the Chicago premiere of Stripe Tease by Chris Schlichting on November 20 and 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Storefront Theater. The Minnesota-based choreographer and performer crafts a deeply satisfying mix of patterns and set structures, large-scale spectacle and delicate intimacy. Schlichting's newest work embraces and slyly subverts dance history and present work into a rich, sensory experience. The Minneapolis Star Tribune said, "Stripe Tease filled every nook, cranny, rafter and balcony with movement, sound and light."

In addition to Chicago and world premieres, SpinOff 2015 also features two Work-in-Progress presentations, which give emerging and established artists the opportunity to test-drive new work in a public setting. On November 14 and 15 in the Dance Studio in the Chicago Cultural Center, Honey Pot Performance will show excerpts of a new work Ma(s)king Her. A multidisciplinary performance set within a fantastical world, the work addresses the absence of women of color in speculative fiction as empowered future beings. Additionally, work excerpts from blue fish part II by Ayako Kato and Bryan Saner will be presented during the double bill. Inspired by the 2011 nuclear power plant tragedy in Fukushima, the movement dialogue between Kato as fish and Saner as human reflects upon the dysfunction and equilibrium of modern human behavior within nature. During this work-in-progress, Kato and Saner explore the elements of dialogue in the performance. The double bill performances take place on Saturday, November 14 at 6 p.m. and on Sunday, November 15 at noon.

All performances of SpinOff are FREE, but reservations are available for some performances at cityofchicago.org/dcase. Reservations only guarantee seating until 15 minutes before show time and then seating is made available on a first-come, first-served basis.

"BUILDING BLOCKS" TALKS ADDED
The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is pleased to collaborate with the Chicago Architecture Biennial on several FREE public programs at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St including a "Building Blocks" lecture series exploring architecture through the lens of the visuals arts and dance. Three of these lectures will be presented throughout SpinOff featuring SpinOff artists and collaborators:

Building Blocks: Moving Through Non-Traditional Spaces
Monday, November 2, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North
Local choreographers and dancers Victoria Bradford, currently creating a dance each day through her Neighborhood dances project, Carron Little, founder and director of Out of Site Chicago, and Khecari, a Chicago-based contemporary dance company, discuss how they create performance in non-traditional spaces and use architecture, found environments and the city as their stage.

Building Blocks: The Inside Game - How Space Decides, Defines and Defies Access
Friday, November 13, 12-1:30 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North
Caleb Hammons, Associate Producer at Bard College's Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Katherine Darnstadt, founder of Latent Design, and Charles Leeks, of the National Public Housing Museum, examine the role that constructed spaces play in defining, providing or denying access to users.

Building Blocks: Choreography as Architecture
Monday, November 16, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North
Minneapolis-based choreographer Chris Schlichting will be in conversation with visual artist Jen Davis on their recent performance collaboration Stripe Tease, at the Storefront Theater on November 20 & 21. Schlichting will discuss his dance-making in relationship to the class "Choreography as Architecture" that he teaches at University of Minnesota.