For those of us who grew up on 1940s-60s Hollywood musicals, the holiday season is affiliated with heavy-lidded crooners in cozy sweaters, lilting foxtrots across moonlit terraces and tap numbers that make you pop out of your armchair and bounce along. Alliance Dance Company has our number with their upcoming Winter Dance Bash—a holiday dance revue not unlike the big variety shows that served as the song-and-dance vehicles in “Holiday Inn” and “White Christmas.” Alliance dancers have choreographed playful modern, jazz, swing and foxtrot numbers to classic holiday tunes. And as the name indicates, Alliance has strong ties to several Chicago companies; they’ll be joined by tappers M.A.D.D. Rhythms, hip-hoppers Movement Revolution, the classical modern Duncan Dance Chicago, youth company Extensions Dance, and Lady Sol’s (Creative Director of FootworKINGz) new Dancehall group Reggae Soul Mvmt. In short, this variety show will have a little more variety and a lot more soul than Wallace and Davis put on stage at the Pine Tree ski lodge. (Sharon Hoyer)
At the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 North Dearborn. Friday and Saturday, December 20 and 21 at 7:30pm. Adults $24, Student/Senior $16, Kids $8. Tickets at winterdancebash.brownpapertickets.com.
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