William Scott

Let’s say you like to dance. What style of dance or your skill level does not matter, just that you like to dance. Where do you look for places to show your stuff? TakeChicagoDance.com just launched, and the team behind it is eager to create a hub for anyone looking to take advantage of Chicago’s dance offerings. Whether you are a professional looking for an advanced workshop, a beginner looking for a place to throw back a few drinks and try out those salsa steps or a health nut discovering that dance is a fun way to stay fit, TakeChicagoDance.com can help you out. It is one-stop shopping for the dance set, and even better, GeekPAC has created a slick, well-organized visual interface to keep the experience easy and fresh.

"Our research told us that people who take dance classes go to dance performances," says Carol Fox of Carol Fox & Associates. The PR maven, along with her vice president of marketing Niki Morrison, created SeeChicagoDance.com, the sister to the new site, nearly three years ago with their audience-development nonprofit Audience Architects. The idea grew out of a project with the Chicago Community Trust and the gamble has paid off. "We feel really good about it. With anything it takes a little time. The most important thing is getting new members," says Fox. With nearly 9,000 members of SeeChicagoDance.com, the new site plans to capitalize on the success of its sister and build an even greater user base.

Here are some highlights of the new site:

Find a school: Find a class by style, area of the city, age group, skill level or day of the week. Or set up parameters that take multiple criteria into account.

Go Dancing: Search the same way you would to find a class, but this is just about having fun. Did you know Nacional 27 on West Huron offers Salsa on Friday and Saturday nights?

Dance Referral: Lets say you are taking a dance class at Lou Conte Dance Studio. It’s real easy to see what Hubbard Street Dance, the studio’s parent company, is up to. The SeeChicagoDance.com referral at the bottom of the page will point the way.

Hot Deals: If the bug to see some of Chicago’s world-class dance does bite after a class or two (as the theory goes), special discounts on the homepage will come in pretty handy.

(2008-04-01)

Also by William Scott

Movement Vocabulary
"We’ve had the opportunity to work with a very diverse group of distinguished voices," Artistic Director Jim Vincent says of the highly contrasting choreographers his company has showcased over its thirty years. What sets Hubbard Street Dance Chicago apart from its industry peers is their athletic, innovated repertoire, a collection of pieces by some of the world’s most renowned dance makers set on a company of exuberant dancers
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The Dean of Dance
She was a cornerstone in establishing the importance of contemporary and modern genres in Chicago’s dance consciousness and encouraging decades of young dancers when she helped found The Dance Center of Columbia College. Her thirsty intellect gives her an excitement for fresh young perspectives and as an artist and mentor she shows no sign of slowing down. She is Shirley Mordine and this month she will premiere her newest dance, "Quest," in celebration of forty years with Mordine & Company Dance Theater, the Midwest’s longest-running contemporary dance company
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Tip of the Week
Steep Theater's "Breathing Corpses" belongs to the women of the tight ensemble this company has created. Be sure that the men involved are unfailingly spot on, but I am taken with the women
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Tip of the Week
River North Dance Chicago is for lovers. Well, they are this weekend. Its annual Chicago engagement is back at the Harris Theater and just in time for Valentine's Day
(2008-02-12)

Tip of the Week
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Noh Way
(2008-01-29)

Playing Around
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Tip of the Week
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Tip of the Week
(2007-11-13)

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