Giordano Dance Chicago's "Ignite the Soul" Fall Concerts at the North Shore Center Oct. 18 & 19

Giordano Dance Chicago, America’s original jazz dance company enters their 63rd “Ignite the Soul” season, with an exhilarating program at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts 9501 Skokie Blvd., 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18 and 2 p.m. Sunday Oct. 19. Resident Choreographer Al Blackstone’s acclaimed one-act “Gershwin in B,” “Interlinked,” a new work choreographed by Company Dancer Simon Schuh, "La Belleza de Cuba" by choreographer to the stars, Liz Imperio, plus additional works from the company’s exciting repertoire are featured in the program.

“Season 63 is unstoppable, with events, partnerships, residencies and touring,” says Giordano Dance Chicago Artistic Director Nan Giordano. “All of these different opportunities give us a wellspring of vibrant energy beauty and unity to bring to a world where it is so greatly needed.”

Company Dancer Schuh originally created “Interlinked,” as a work for four GII dancers performed this past spring for “Giordano on Giordano” (“G on G”). This annual event hosted, by Giordano Dance Chicago, gives Company Dancers the chance to create works on dancers in the Giordano Dance Chicago’s second company (GII). Schuh expanded the work and added two more dancers for a total of six for its world premiere on Sept. 20 as one of the commissioned works performed at Chicago Live! at Navy Pier, presented by the Pritzker Foundation and supported by Peoples Gas. The work will be featured in a Giordano Dance Chicago concert for the first time at the October North Shore Center engagement.

Also on the program:

• "Sing, Sing, Sing" (1983) by company founder Gus Giordano set to was music written by Louis Prima.
• “Gershwin in B” (2024). Emmy Award-winning choreographer Blackstone describes this theatrical full company work as “a celebration of the glorious music of George Gershwin, the incredible legacy of Giordano Dance Chicago, and one young woman’s curious spirit.” Third Coast Review calls it …” a rousing work” and Chicago City Pleasures hails it as “nothing less than breathtaking.” The North Shore Center engagement will be the opportunity to catch this work this season.
• “La Belleza de Cuba” (2013) by Liz Imperio. Imperio, whose extensive credits include staging and choreography for Jennifer Lopez, Cher, Gloria Estefan and Madonna, uses Latin, Afro-Cuban, jazz and contemporary choreography in this joyous full-company work celebrating GDC’s dance legacy and honoring Imperio’s Cuban heritage
• “333” (2024). This inspirational solo was created by Nan Giordano and the company’s Associate Artistic Director Cesar G. Salinas for Company Dancer Erina Ueda, (Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch - 2024”). Buzz Center Stage says “it is quite simply a mesmerizing tour de force.”
• “Red & Black” (2024). This tantalizing work choreographed by ABC TV’s “Dancing with the Stars” choreographer Ray Leeper, fuses passion, elegance, and sophistication. Stage and Cinema describes it as a “tantalizing fusion of peerless dance and riveting theater.

Giordano Dance Chicago presents the fall engagement of their 63rd “Ignite the Soul” season at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts located at 9501 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie, Ill. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18 and 2 p.m. Sunday Oct. 19. Tickets are $40.30-$83.40. For tickets and more information visit northshorecenter.org.