Dance Top 5: August 2023

Dancers from Chicago companies join forces in a “Dance For Life” finale choreographed by Randy Duncan/Photo: Cheryl Mann.

1
Dance For Life
(Auditorium Theatre)
The annual fundraiser showcase for dancer health care features new faces this year—including Moonwater Dance Project and the pointe/hip-hop Hiplet Ballerinas—and longstanding anchor companies Joffrey, Hubbard Street and Giordano.
August 19

2
DanceAfrica Chicago Lineage Concert
(Logan Center for the Arts)
Muntu Dance Theatre performs alongside Najwa Dance Corps, M.A.D.D. Rhythms and St. Louis-based Afriky Lolo in a celebration of African and African American dance.
August 12

3
Summerdance
(multiple venues)
Wednesdays in the neighborhoods, Thursdays-Sundays in Grant Park, this series of free, outdoor dance lessons followed by live music (think salsa, swing, stepping, Irish folk, Afrobeat, house and more) is the absolute best of Chicago summer.
Through September 10

4
Stories from the West Side
(Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center)
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre and James Sanders & Conjunto present new music and dance inspired by stories from Humboldt Park residents in this free concert.
August 12

5
Puppet Tap Bop!
(Fred Anderson Park)
In a free outdoor concert directed by composer Fred Jackson, jazz musicians, tap dancers and puppeteers tell a story of rhythms of nature in plants, animals and people.
August 13