HOLIDAY DANCE CAROL Brings Dance To Your Door Step

As a Chicago community, we come together to celebrate even if there's six feet of snow. While there are caroling groups that travel around - these usually involve only singing and not dance.

Last winter, a local choreographer Mariah Eastman piloted a new strategy to safely bring holiday spirit and dance to the Chicago community. She created a "Holiday Dance Carol", a 2-minute dance piece to "Let it Snow" that could be performed on sidewalks outside houses. With a blue tooth speaker and an opportunity to perform in the midst of another wave during the COVID pandemic, the artists traveled house to house offering this holiday dance.

Many people were moved by this simple performance, "...we were able to use dance as a way to spread some love to families around Chicago- it seemed like the Dance Carol was very touching for many families and brought a little light-heartedness in the midst of a challenging year." Julia Schaeffer (participant from last year) of Winifred Haun and Dancers. Dance Carolers went to 3 different neighborhoods over the course of 3 evenings engaging about 30 households along their routes. Another participant from last year, Stefany Cotton of The Rooted Space in North Center said "The holiday dance carol was such a fun and safe way to perform and get together with other dancers after so much time apart. It felt like pre-pandemic times to be with a group of dancers again, and seeing the surprised and happy faces of the homeowners was the cherry on top!".

This year Eastman is collaborating with 3 dance studios (Dovetail Studios, Dance on Broadway, Intrigue Performing Arts and Dance Center) to bring the Holiday Dance Carol to the three neighborhoods of Albany Park, Lakeview, and South Loop/Chinatown area. Spreading holiday cheer, she and the dancers will take this two minute piece from house to house in each neighborhood for an hour on December 2nd - 5th, 10th - 12th and 17th - 19th at dusk. To reserve a spot on the schedule for caroling, email Eastman at mariah@mariahdchoreography.com

Eastman has been working in the Chicago dance scene for 4 years. Her dance vocabulary is a mix of modern and contemporary and she uses gesture phrases as the basis for her movement. With a mission to feature the unique physical qualities of the dancers she works with, she also creates to showcase her dance spaces. Eastman has a degree in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University and has presented work at Arts on Site (NYC), Trifecta Dance Collectives "A New Light" (2019 and 2020), Simantikos Dance Chicago (2019) and Baltimore Dance Invitational. She has also produced two evening length shows during the pandemic, "Patternalia" in September 2020 and "Café Cortado" in June 2021 which were both on virtual platforms.

Running December 3rd, 4th, 5th ; December 10th, 11th,12th; December 17th, 18th,19th. Free event.

Albany Park: https://fb.me/e/Otujb2om

Lakeview: https://fb.me/e/8tDVMmTGS

South Loop/Chinatown: https://fb.me/e/1dmICscTa

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