Chicago Movement Collective

First day in our new location and first day of our 4th anniversary week!! Thank you, Patti, for such a wonderful morning ballet class!

Starting this week, catch Int/Adv Horton with Alysia Johnson on Fridays, 11:45am-1:15pm at our weekday location Definition Dance Academy.

More about Alysia:
Alysia Johnson was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She first found dance at Dallas Black Dance Theatre and later went on to graduate from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where she studied ballet, modern, and composition. While getting her BFA at The Juilliard School she performed works by Emily Molnar, Aszure Barton, Crystal Pite, and Kyle Abraham among others. A two-time recipient of Juilliard's Entrepreneurship Grant, she served the Dallas dance community by founding and directing a summer program that caters to young artists in the DFW metroplex since 2015. Alysia is a company member with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and teaching artist in the Chicago area and beyond. In the fall of 2020, Alysia became the Head of Membership at Black Dance Change Makers and was most recently was named a 2021 Princess Grace Dance Honoraria Recipient with her nomination by HSDC.

TOMORROW!

Join us tomorrow for our first day in our new weekday home studio:
Definition Dance Academy
2525 N Elston Ave

Tuesday classes include:
Image Tech with Rachel Ferring- 9:15-9:45am
Adv/Pro Ballet subbed by Patti Eylar- 10-11:30am

And returning Tuesdays starting Sept. 17th is Contemporary with Jacinda Ratcliffe, 11:45am-1:15pm

Celebrate our 4th anniversary with us the week after Labor Day at our new weekday location: Definition Dance Academy at 2525 N Elston Ave.

Stay tuned for more info about the celebration week...

Continuing our mission to be accessible through a variety of locations within the Chicago Dance Community, starting after Labor Day, CMC will host our weekday classes at:

Definition Dance Academy
2525 N. Elston Ave

LOCATION UPDATE:

We are so grateful to Intrigue Dance & Performing Arts Center for being our studio home these last few years. They have been an integral part in getting us up on our feet as a business and providing top tier dance training to the Chicago community. We truly would not be where we are today without their beautiful facilities and wonderful staff. Next week will be our last week holding classes in their studios. Thank you to everyone at Intrigue for your contributions to the CMCommunity :)

In order to continue in our mission of being accessible to a variety of locations within the Chicago Dance Community, beginning after Labor Day, we will be relocating to a new weekday studio home. Stay tuned for more info!

Upcoming chances to catch Adv/Pro Ballet with Brian Enos:

Friday, Aug. 23rd
Friday, Aug. 30th

Class is at 10am at our weekday location Intrigue Dance & Performing Arts Center

LOCATION UPDATE:

Weekday classes will return to our weekday location Intrigue Dance & Performing Arts Center tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 19th.

Saturday classes only remain at The Chicago Academy for the Arts.

Please join us in wishing the happiest of birthdays to our fabulous Founder and Director Ethan Kirschbaum! We love you, Ethan! Thank you for all you do for CMC and for the Chicago Dance Community!! 🥳🎂🎉💙

Please join us in welcoming out newest dancer in the Claire Bataille Legacy Program: Kalie Ferry

Kalie Ferry is an artist, choreographer, performer, and instructor. She received her BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle Washington. She has been a company member of Metamorphosis Dance Company, Elemdi Performance Collaborative, and Balliamo Dance Collective. She has taught contemporary, jazz, and ballet to professional dancers in Rhode Island for several years, and has just moved to Chicago. Kalie is a certified personal trainer, yoga instructor, and nutrition coach through the International Sports Science Association. As an artist, Kalie is interested in exploring opposing energies of bound and free movement, while honoring the importance of anatomical sustainability. Kalie identifies as a dancer who pushes the boundaries of tradition to make space for mental, emotional, and physical health in the dance world.

NOW THROUGH AUG 17TH!

ALL CLASSES will be held at The Chicago Academy for the Arts:
1010 W Chicago Ave

**TIME UPDATE**

Pilates with Catie Armbrecht will be Fridays 9:15-9:55am for the next three weeks at The Chicago Academy for the Arts.

This Friday, July 26th catch Adv/Pro Ballet subbed by Brian Enos. Class begins at 10am at The Chicago Academy for the Arts

**Extra chance to catch Adv/Pro Ballet with Ethan Kirschbaum this week**

In addition to his regularly scheduled Thursday morning, you can also catch him on Tuesday, July 23rd at The Chicago Academy for the Arts!

LOCATION UPDATE:

Starting July 22nd and going through August 10th, ALL CLASSES will be offered out of our secondary location: The Chicago Academy for the Arts located at 1010 W Chicago Ave.

Please join us in welcoming another fabulous new Claire Bataille Legacy Program Dancer: Taylor Walzem

Taylor Walzem, with over twenty years of dance practice and experience, moved to
Chicago in 2023 from New Braunfels, Texas. She studied Texas Woman’s University where she received a Bachelor of the Arts in Dance with a minor in Art History, benefitting from professors such as Jordan Fuchs, Mary Williford-Shade, and Sarh Gamblin, through which program she was able to perform regionally as well as be credited as an international performer at the Coco Dance Festival. Walzem was also on the company Transcend Motion, started by Sarah Tran in 2020, where she learned the joys and hard work required for professional dance, spurring her to pursue her career to new heights. Continuing her growth in Chicago she has studied under Winifred Haun, Ariel Dorsey, Patti Eylar, and Imani English as part of the Third Coast Contemporary Dance Program.

Continuing through the Summer: Contemporary Play with Xenia Mansour
Wednesdays 11:45am-1:15pm

This class is focused on using a myriad of improvisation tasks and explorations to warm up the body, drop us in the space, and begin connecting with others in the room. As we progress, we'll delve into contemporary phrase work that will serve as the foundation for our movement exploration. Through the use of various choreographic tools and directives, we'll expand and play with the original phrase, keeping curiosity and intentionality at the forefront of our time together.

We are thrilled to welcome our newest Claire Bataille Legacy Program dancer: Samantha Leigh Anderson

Samantha Leigh Anderson started her formal dance training at Central Texas Ballet
Conservatory under the direction of Caitlin Kelly. Samantha graduated from The University of Texas at Austin, Theater and Dance Department where she earned her B.F.A. in Dance under the direction of Charles Anderson. While at The University of Texas, Samantha had the pleasure of performing works by Charles Anderson, Dorothy O’Shea Overbey, Joel Valentin-Martinez, Kevin A. Ormsby and Will Brown. Upon graduating in December 2022, Samantha was invited to dance as a trainee with Visceral Dance Chicago. While training she performed works by Nick Pupillo, Braeden Barnes, Noelle Kayser, Tina Diaz. Most recently Samantha had the pleasure of dancing with New Dances 2024 under the direction of Julie Nakagawa and Melissa Thodos. Samantha has attended multiple Summer Intensive programs and Collegiate Intensives with American Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Gibney Winter Intensive, Mark Morris Gaga Lab and Flockworks Dance. Samantha focuses on the coexistence within dance, equal parts of collaboration and communication between the artist and the audience. She believes in contributing to an environment that allows dancers and collaborators to speak freely without bias of race, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. So that dancers and herself may have the opportunity to see themselves within the work, choreography, plot, theme and the audience. She hopes for an honest and true representation of what dance depicts.

Summer Break ending!

Tomorrow, Saturday, July 6th, CMC's regularly scheduled classes will resume. Weekend classes are at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and weekday classes are at Intrigue Dance & Performing Arts Center.

CMC will be closed for summer break next week. We will not have classes from Monday, July 1st through Friday, July 5th. Our class schedule will resume on Saturday, July 6th.

Please join us in welcoming to the Claire Bataille Legacy Program Amya Lopez!

Amya Lopez is originally from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. She began training at The Dance Factory in Delavan, Wisconsin, directed by Tina Hansen and studied dance with Laura Kariotis, Katie Carey, and Maureen Kilmer. She recently graduated from the University of Iowa, earning her BFA in dance with a minor in business administration. While at the University of Iowa, Amya performed in various performances and festivals, including the Dance Gala, Faculty Graduate Concert, multiple Graduate thesis concerts, the University of Iowa Presidental Lecture, American College Dance Association Conferences, and Trifecta Dance Festival. Amya has trained under many acclaimed faculty members from the department of dance including Eloy Barragán, George De La Peña, Armando Duarte, Kristin Marrs, Stephanie Miracle, Melinda Jean Myers, Tony Orrico, Kieron Sargent, Charmian Wells, and Britt Juleen. Recently, Amya performed alongside the Martha Graham Dance Company in their GRAHAM100 tour performance in Iowa City. Amya was a part of the restaging of the 1992 work “Panaorama” directed by Martha Graham 2 Director Virgine Méncène. She is excited to continue her dance education with Chicago Movement Collective as she embarks on her professional dance career in Chicago.

Beginning this week: Contemporary Series with Noelle Kayser

June 25th-July 16th
Tuesdays 11:45am-1:30pm
Intrigue Dance & Performing Arts Center

$22 drop in
$70 full 4-week series

Enjoy a contemporary class with Noelle Kayser in which dancers will be guided from the floor, to seated, to standing - slowly and thoroughly warming up the body by shifting between various technical forms and momentum based ideas. The second half of the class, students be given the space to film any phrasework generated in class or elsewhere for reels/self promotion etc.

Join us in this opportunity to "Be Reel" in the studio together!

Upcoming performance:

Chicago Movement Collective is performing choreography by Founder/Director Ethan R. Kirschbaum at this year's Elpis Dance Festival. This family friendly free event is this weekend on Saturday, June 22nd, 1-3pm!

LOCATION CHANGE: Elpis will be held at The Rooted Space at 1803 W Byron St.

Starting next week! Register now for our upcoming Contemporary series with Noelle Kayser.

June 25th-July 16th
Tuesday 11:45am-1:30pm
Intrigue Dance & Performing Arts Center

$22 drop-in
$70 full 4-week series

This Wednesday, CMC will be closed in observance of Juneteenth. No live or virtual classes will be held.

Catch Adv/Pro Ballet with Brian Enos this upcoming Tuesday, June 18th, 10-11:30am at our weekday location Intrigue Dance & Performing Arts Center.

Mark your calendars!

Chicago Movement Collective is performing choreography by Founder/Director Ethan R. Kirschbaum at this year's Elpis Dance Festival. This family friendly free event will occur on Saturday, June 22nd, 1-3pm!

Performance location is across the street from Cafe Brauer on 2021 N Stockton Drive.

Register now for our Summer Contemporary Series with Noelle Kayser!

June 25th-July 16th
Tuesdays 11:45am-1:30pm
Intrigue Dance & Performing Arts Center

$22 drop-in
$70 full 4-week series

We are still reeling from an amazing show last weekend! Thank you to everyone who came out to see Persistent Spring and to See Chicago Dance for a beautiful review!

Check out the article here: https://tinyurl.com/atrmt74f