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Jazz dance is in Nan Giordano’s blood—and so is leadership. In her four decades at the helm of Giordano Dance Chicago, the company founded by her father, jazz luminary Gus Giordano, she’s worked hard to balance legacy with innovation. “We stand on the foundation my father built, but we don’t live in the past,” she […]
When Joel Hall enters a studio, students fall silent and rise in respect. He can command a room from its corner with merely a facial expression, but more often, he takes charge by getting into the thick of the dance, letting the beat of the house music move him and pulling meaning and emotion from […]
Dance for Life Chicago, an annual benefit concert for HIV/AIDS and other critical health issues, celebrates its 25th anniversary at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre on August 20. Chicago dance companies, including Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Giordano Dance Chicago, will perform. “The really beautiful thing about Dance for Life is that it draws […]
When Giordano Dance Chicago’s Joshua Blake Carter was in high school, he took jazz from Emily Yewell-Volin. Years later, he can still vividly recall the time she helped him with a particularly tricky step. “She had us do a tombé coupé jeté, landing on the front leg to go into an inside pirouette,” Carter says. “I […]
MacKenzie’s contemporary class has a foundation in Giordano jazz basics. Teachers share the philosophies and materials that make them successful in their careers and classes. From a young age, Lizzie MacKenzie’s students learn the value of hard work and professionalism. “My reputation precedes me,” she says. “I get pretty serious students coming my way, because those […]