Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre Announces 2021 Season

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre is a multicultural company that creates new dance and music to explore strong personal narratives. They build partnerships across Chicagoland to engage a diverse audience: sparking dialogue, reflecting diverse experiences, inspiring new perspectives.

The company's mission for 20+ years has been to apply the talents of a diverse group of collaborative artists to concerns that shape its community. In 2020, Cerqua Rivera only paused for a few weeks to re-think its art to reflect a turbulent year and comply with evolving safety guidelines. In 2021, the multitalented, multicultural company continues its groundbreaking, timely, moving work.

2021 New Work:

SHIVER

Nationally acclaimed choreographer Stephanie Martinez made SHIVER on Cerqua Rivera in 2016, exploring a woman's journey. She returns this year to update the piece with several more years' perspective and experience as a Latina artist and arts leader. Company Cofounder Joe Cerqua creates a brand new soundtrack for this visceral and dramatic artwork.

SOUL REMEDY

Choreographer Monique Haley joins forces with Chicago jazz legend Pharez Whitted to launch SOUL REMEDY. Over two years they will explore the Aesthetic of the Cool, a culturally specific phenomenon rooted in the Black American experience that has shaped this country's arts and culture and impacted the world. SOUL REMEDY will respect, reflect, and represent Black excellence as a central component of American culture.

IDENTITY CITY

Company Cofounder and Artistic Director Wilfredo Rivera leads this four-year project, launched in 2020. Through the lens of non-binary / gender queer and trans experiences, a growing team of collaborators will unpack the fast-evolving definition of gender and contemplate the current explosion of the queer and trans presence, as traditions are defied by a new generation.

MOOD SWING

They return to this suite of duets responding to the pandemic crisis and social justice movement with several more months of perspective and experience to add. As they continue to deal with a momentous year and its aftermath, they have more to say.

2021 Season Schedule:

The health and safety of their artists and audiences are their top priorities. Schedule subject to change. All programs will be provided with safety protocols including virtual options and limited in-person tickets as needed. They recommend checking their web site for details - for example, tickets will generally not be available at the door. All venues ADA compliant.

April 22 - 2021 Season Kickoff - 7 pm @ Epiphany Arts Center - livestream with limited in-person seating (up to 50 tickets available)

- June 17 - Inside/Out with Soul Remedy - 7 pm LIVESTREAM

- July 18 - Inside/Out with Identity City - 5 pm LIVESTREAM

- August 21 - Inside/Out with Shiver- 4 & 6 pm @ Hyde Park School of Dance - livestream with limited in-person seating (up to 25 tickets per performance available)

- September 9 - Inside/Out @ Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center with Mancha 'E Plátano

- America / Americans - the fall concert series
safety and ticketing details to be released later this spring

- October 1 & 2 @ Studio5 Performing Arts Center

- October 9 @ Fine & Performing Arts Center at Moraine Valley Community College

- October 17 - Benefit Performance @ Epiphany Arts Center

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre is committed to their mission and building on their 20+ year history. Join them this year.

"There's an art to being a dance company, and for twenty years, Cerqua Rivera has been reimagining the parameters of that art. From the beginning, cofounders Joe Cerqua and Wilfredo Rivera imagined a fundamentally different relationship between music and dance in concert, and over the company's first two decades, they've steadily expanded their exploration of what that can be. But over the past few years, there's been an increasing momentum to how all of that imagining gets put together. Their current company of dancers is extraordinary, and the Cerqua Rivera musicians have continuously expanded the horizons of what they can bring to an audience." - DancerMusic

Schedule subject to change. Follow Cerqua Rivera on Facebook and Instagram or check its web site (www.cerquarivera.org/schedule) for the latest news.