My Show Week Essentials
It's SHOW WEEK and I love nothing more than the thrill of being on stage! This Saturday, April 27, 2024 you can catch us at the Auditorium Theatre in downtown Chicago at 7:30pm with SIX brand new commissions!! With all of the hustle and bustle that is leading up to show week, I thought I'd take you through some of my essential things I do or take every single day while leading up to the show to keep me healthy and ready to go. Everyone is different and has their own routine or favorites, but here are my top 10...
1.Packing food ahead of time and making sure my meals are nutritious and packed with tons of protein! For me and my body, protein keeps me feeling strong and alert!
2. Vitamins - at the start of each day! I take a vitamin blend each morning that keeps my immune system alive and keeps me well!
3. Meditation! Just this year, I started using an app on my phone that takes me through short, breath-centered meditations. It keeps me calm during the chaos of show week!
4. TONS of water and electrolytes! I make sure to keep hydrated and replace all that I sweat out during rehearsal.
5. Ice packs at the end of the rehearsal day to reduce inflammation or swelling from a long rehearsal day.
6. Massage tools, lacrosse balls, foam rollers, etc. Almost all of us dancers have some slew of recovery tools to roll-out or massage our tight muscles. We work hard in rehearsal and need to recover well!
7. Okay, no shame, spray deodorant. We work hard and sweat hard as well. I never leave without my spray deodorant in my bag to replenish and stay fresh throughout the day!
8. Biofreeze. Ever heard of it? It's like icy hot's bigger and better best friend. It's professional strength and helps my body aches and pains ease themselves away.
9. My personal favorite - chapstick (specifically Carmex!). I can never leave the house without it and dancing with chapped lips is the worst feeling for some reason!
10. Layers upon layers of clothes to stay warm. Yes, dancers sweat a lot, but we also cool off INSANELY fast. We like to keep our bodies warm and ready to go especially when we have long days. Many of us bring 2 layers of pants and tops as to keep the heat inside of our bodies so we can remain active and warm!
And there it is, my list of necessities. If you ever find yourself on a show week, now you know what to bring along! We more than hope we will see you this Saturday, it's going to be a show to remember!
Behind the Scenes: Photoshoot
You may have seen dancers post photos on various social media sites and wondered what that's all about! Well, today I'm here to break it down for you, let you know why we have a photoshoot, how it all happens, and all the in between. To give you the information in the simplest way I know possible, we are breaking it down grade-school style...
WHO?
All of the company members going into the next season are involved in a photoshoot. Trey Alexander, our resident costume designer, decides what outfits we wear based on what Kia Smith, our Executive Artistic Director, wants the vision of the photoshoot to be. Kia is present the entire time helping us dancers pose while Michelle Reid, our amazing photographer, captures the magic on camera!
WHAT?
A photoshoot, of course! Kia's vision (usually a color scheme or mood for the upcoming season) is brought to life through photographs of us dancers!
WHERE?
Michelle brings her backgrounds wherever we need to go. We've done photoshoot shoots at her studio before, but this one in particular we needed more space for so we did it at Links Hall!
WHEN?
Typically, we have a photoshoot prior to the announcement of the next season so as to have photos ready to go! We've also done them leading up to a performance or a big show that requires lots of advertisement!
WHY?
To advertise and showcase our company's talent! Photographs capture who is on the company, their strengths and abilities, and are one of the more exciting ways to get the word out there. When posting on social media or announcing where we will be on tour, Kia generally uses our photoshoot captures to make the post or announcement more eye-catching! In addition, when we perform somewhere, they need our photographs for program covers, ads, announcements, posters, etc.
HOW?
All of us dancers get together for a 4-5 hour day in which we warm-up, stretch, and take dance photos with Michelle! Some people may have to repeat a certain jump or leg extension over and over again until Michelle gets the perfect shot at the perfect angle with our most perfect dance technique! In other scenarios, we might improvise or dance however we would like in front of the camera so that Michelle can receive some "in motion" shots!
So, if you didn't know yet...now you know! That's the break down of a day at a photoshoot and how it all happens! We can't wait for you to see our new photographs!!
April 27: Auditorium Theatre
Hopping on today to highly suggest for you to mark your calendars for April 27 at 7:30pm! Do you know where you should be? At the historic Auditorium Theatre of course! It's our Season 7 home season show and we want to see as many of you there as we possibly can!
If you want a glimpse of exactly what you'll be seeing, scroll back through the blogs and feel free to read up on any of the 6 choreographic processes we've been through this season to get us to this point. We are so excited to be back for a second year at the Aud.
Unlike last year (the debut of our evening-length work, "Memoirs of Jazz in Alley"), we will be debuting six separate pieces by six separate choreographers. We have works by Donald Byrd, Joshua Blake Carter, Monique Haley, Tsai Hsi Hung, Terry Marling, and our own Executive Artistic Director, Kia S. Smith.
If you're looking forward to a night packed with high-energy dancing, you know where to be. Tickets are now available online at AuditoriumTheatre.org! All of us cannot wait to share with you the pieces we've been working so deeply on since October.
Exciting updates, more rehearsal deep dives, and of course all things behind the scenes to come on the blog as we continue to prepare for this spectacular show. Please don't miss it!!
Why Rest is Important
As our full group moves into a restful Spring Break for the next week, you may be wondering: as professionals, why do we take a Spring Break?
There are many reasons as dancers that we need and our bodies crave rest. We have a big show coming up at the end of April, and taking adequate rest now will help us to be at our peak performance for the Auditorium Theatre. To answer your questions, though, I provide you with the following information on the benefits of rest!
- Rest time = Recovery time. For all professional athletes, rest is sacred. Professional athletes in sports such as soccer, football, basketball, baseball, etc. have a whole season of rest. Even when they aren't in their "off-season", teams in the United States have BYE weeks in which they don't have games. Being at your peak performance in practice, rehearsal, and then games/performances all of the time is physically exhausting. Without enough rest, athletes are driven to burnout and would not be capable of doing what they do best!
- Cross-train and build muscle. Just like a professional athlete, us professional dancers cross-train. Each of us prefers something different, but when we are outside the studio we might run, lift weights, cardio or HIIT-train, or even do pilates or yoga to keep up our strength and endurance. A week off allows us to do more of these activities to support our movement as dancers, but it also allows us to rest our muscles to allow them to build up. Muscle builds during rest time, ironically!
- To see family, friends, and maintain mental health. As dancers, we spend so much of our time in studio and also working other jobs. Kia prioritizes our mental well-being alongside our physical well-being and a week off allows many of us to see family and friends. Having good mental health allows us to be our best within the studio! Tons of us have family from out-of-state that we do not get to see often. This spring break season allows us to travel to them and enjoy time together!
- Coming back better than ever! I find that each time after a break, I return to the space excited to see my co-workers, excited to work on the pieces we have in our repertoire, and ready to work harder than ever. It's always my hope that a week break allows us to rest and recover and then push towards our communal goal of putting together the best show we possibly can!
We will see you after our well-deserved break! Until then, enjoy the sunshine wherever you are :)
Monique Haley Residency
This past week was a special one - we had long-time Chicago dancer Monique Haley in to re-stage and add more choreography to a piece that has been in our repertoire since season 3!
Personally, this week was extra special for a few reasons. One being that "Soul Power" was the first piece of repertoire I ever learned on the company. After auditioning, joining the company, and showing up to my first day of rehearsal in 2020, we learned Monique's piece to perform at a fall concert. It was my first performance with South Chicago Dance Theatre and who could've guessed this is where we would be 4 years later!
Secondly, Monique Haley was my professor at my alma mater, Western Michigan University. Monique was my first technique teacher for jazz while at WMU, I was involved in her thesis project for her Masters in Dance, and I had the privilege of working closely with her throughout my time at WMU. To be back in the studio working with her again was an extra special treat. It felt like home and was a reminder of how small and special the dance community is.
Monique's piece, "Soul Power", is all about spiritual and communal connection. Eye contact is extra important in the work as is the connection we have to the space and ourselves spiritually. Whatever that means for each of us was encouraged to come out in this work. It's such a beautiful experience to perform as the movement itself is high energy, athletic, and tiring, but the feeling of the piece gives an overwhelming sense of calm. Monique's process was the same - she brought amazing energy to our space, but spoke beautiful and encouraging words to us that brought us peace and community.
We are so thankful to have closed out our year of residencies with Monique. She made all of us feel special and valued in the space and made a gorgeous piece that we cannot wait to show audiences on April 27, 2024 at the Auditorium Theatre! We will see you there!!
JBC Residency: Week 1
We are done with our first week of residency with Joshua Blake Carter! Former Chicagoan, JBC was a part of the Chicago Dance Community for years before recently assuming his new role with Dance Kaleidoscope in Indianapolis. We are SO excited to welcome him back to the Windy City and have thoroughly all enjoyed being a part of his process.
This one is really special because it is, in fact, all 16 of us dancers involved with South Chicago Dance Theatre on stage. JBC was commissioned to make our grand finale for the Season 7 show. He's done a brilliant job in doing so as, though the piece is not finished yet, it is one of the most high-energy, fast, stimulating, and (I'll say it...) exhausting pieces we've done!
Josh came in with music, a plan, and got right to work on Monday. The piece has three section and by today (Friday), we have moved on to start section 3. Truly, JBC has been the best to work with. He's so incredibly kind and patient and fits in with our company's spunk and energy. He has a zest for spatial reasoning in dance, utilizing spacing and transitions to weave together beautiful passings and a gorgeous accumulation of energy! The piece builds and I'm sure will keep viewers locked in. What I have most admired about Josh in his process is how patient he is with his thoughts. He works quickly while still taking his time and not judging the movement as he sets it. I've never worked with a choreography who is more calm and lacks any sense of pressure while creating a piece. Of course, it's a stressful thing to have to do, but Josh has approached it with such collected energy that it makes the environment feel so welcoming and peaceful.
So far, I'm incredibly proud to be a part of this process and I can't wait to see what this piece grows to be. It's got me on my toes, moving quickly, and feeling all sorts of happiness to be dancing on stage with 15 of my favorite people!
SCDT's February Tour
We kicked off February with a bang and jumped straight into a two-leg tour! Traveling from Missouri to Michigan and back to Chicago was no easy feat, but the love of dance and two giant rental cars pulled us through.
A giant thank you to the dancers of Southeast Missouri State University for diving into classes and a process with us. We were lucky to meet new faces, connect with the beautiful dancers, and hopefully share some of our knowledge with you all! With little to no rest time, we hopped back in the car and traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan for two jam-packed performances for school-children through Education for the Arts. Thousands of kids from schools in the Kalamazoo area loaded up in busses and came to Miller Auditorium on Western Michigan University's campus to view our performance! We were so thankful to EFA for bringing us in - the kids brought us such joy and energy all the way from the audience!
Touring with the company is always one of my favorite adventures. It allows us to be together outside of the rehearsal environment. It challenges us to take ownership of the work, rehearse and focus on only the company that week, and brings so many laughs and memories along the way. SCDT's main company is such a joy to travel with, everyone is easy-going, caring, fun, and loves what we do. To be able to share that with more people across the country is one of my favorite things.
Once again, we have so much gratitude to the places we get to go. Hopefully our classes and performances are inspiring and can help viewers think in a new way. Where to next?!
Terry Marling's Piece: The Final Product
Well, team, we made it to the end of another brilliant residency! Today was our last day working with Terry Marling and we had the privilege of showing our piece to guests and supporters at the KLS studios at the Auditorium Theater!
The theater's studio is BEAUTIFUL! It's one of the largest spaces we've ever rehearsed in and it's so wonderful to have so much space to work with. Throughout this second week with Terry we've been at the KLS studio and have been able to use it's vast area. Terry used this week's rehearsal to hone in on the first section of his work. Musically, and in topic, the piece is split into two parts. The second part was created in our first week of rehearsal and is slow, peaceful, connected, weightless, and graceful. Working in opposite order, this week of rehearsal we worked on the beginning of the piece - the first section. Working in collaboration with the dancers, Terry created a contrast to his second section and choreographed a heavy, weighted, grounded, and hard-edged opening to the piece.
I'll still leave some of the choreography and story to the imagination, but this piece definitely leaves audience's experiencing two sides of society - disconnected versus connected. Terry's process was unlike others as he heavily relied on the collaboration of us dancers and weaved our choreography together to make the dance specific and personal to our group. Our audience today seemed wowed and impressed, asking lots of questions about Terry's process, how he comes in with his ideas, and what it's like to work in such a collaborative environment.
As you know, we have 6 world premieres at the Auditorium Theater on April 27, 2024. Three of them are now completed and we are so excited to dive into 3 more! We are so thankful to Kia that she continues to bring in such wonderful choreographers for us to work with and learn from. Each time we finish a process, it feels like I've broadened my horizons to new styles, ways of thinking, process, and creative endeavors. Here's to the next residency!!
Residency Day 1: Terry Marling
A new year and a brand new slew of residencies coming your way, SCDT fans! We have a residency each month leading up to our big show in April and we could not be more excited about our first guest choreographer, Terence (Terry) Marling. He's a Chicago native and was my personal saving grace during Covid season as he led virtual ballet classes EVERY day on Instagram Live. Terry loves the Chicago dance community and it loves him right back!
Today was day one of our 10 day process with Mr. Marling. Terry started out the day by talking with all of us, getting to know all of our names, and speaking about his plan for our 10 minute quintet he was about to begin. It felt like he's really passionate about this process and really cared about getting us involved in it as much as possible. I loved that he said that the environment in which he makes a piece is ultra-important to him. He cares about collaboration, kindness, willingness, and all around human connection.
It seems that that is exactly what the piece is going to be about - human connection. We have not yet learned who the five people performing in the piece are yet as Terry took this first day to see how we move, provide us with tasks, and observe us work together as a group. I love that he's taking the time to get to know us as dancers and I think that's important in making a successful piece.
As always, I'll keep you updated throughout and with the final product of Terry's residency. He's such a confident, kind, and observant person that I have no doubt these two weeks with him will be absolutely amazing!
Until the end of the residency...see you then!
Thank You, 2023!
photo by: Michelle Reid
2023 - you were so beautiful and so good to us! As we have closed out another amazing year dancing locally, regionally, and internationally, I'd love to share some of our highlights of the year and a few of the things we are most looking forward to that kick off our 2024 together as a company! This blog may look a bit different than the others, but it's a wonderful way to glance at where we've been and where we are going! As I personally reflect, I can never believe how much we jam-pack into one year! Thank you to Kia, to our amazing staff, artists, teachers, collaborators, and choreographers, and mostly YOU! Thanks for following along our dance journey.
A few highlights from 2023 in order:
-Our collaboration process with Giordano Dance Chicago
-2023's South Chicago Dance Festival
-Our BIGGEST audition year in January with over 300 people in-studio!
-Black History Month performances across so many Chicago Schools!
-A beautiful community day with our friends at Hubbard Street
-Working with the students at Western Michigan University for such a cool residency!
-South Chicago Dance Theatre's DEBUT of Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley at the Auditorium Theater of Chicago on June 10!
-Dance for Life 2023 with Giordano Dance Chicago!
-Harris Theater's 20th Anniversary Resident Company Showcase!
-Chicago LIVE! at Navy Pier
-Donald Byrd's new commission with SCDT!
-Our South American Debut in Colombia, South America!!!!
-Chicago Opera Theater's production of The Nose that we had the privilege of dancing in!
-Finally, our process with Tsai Hsi Hung!
A couple of things we are looking forward to to kick off 2024:
-Our upcoming residencies with Terence Marling, Joshua Blake Carter, and Monique Haley!
-Our Black History Month show this year!
-Our residencies in Missouri and Kalamazoo, Michigan
-Our 2024 Home Season show at the Auditorium Theater on April 27, 2024!
We cannot wait to start this new year and bring you so much more DANCE! Stay tuned, per usual!