Giordano Dance Chicago Premieres Red & Black Oct. 25-26 at the Harris

Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC), America’s original jazz dance company enters their 62nd season SOARING! with an exhilarating program at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26. A highlight of the program: The world premiere of Ray Leeper's "Red & Black."

In this celebratory season, GDC Artistic Director Nan Giordano has been deliberate in choosing to work with choreographers with whom she has special relationships and who have been significant forces in the GDC legacy. Ray Leeper is one such choreographer, Leeper's connection with GDC began when company founder Gus Giordano pulled the young Ray up on stage at a dance convention. Since then, Leeper has choreographed three full company works for GDC: “Feelin’ Good Sweet” (2014), “Soul” (2018) and now “Red & Black.” This one-act piece in five parts follows the ups and downs of show girls and the men who love them, culminating in a high-energy jazz finale filled with the company’s trademark exhilaration and heart.

Other works on the program include the following:

• Al Blackstone’s one-act “Gershwin in B” (2024). This full company work had its world premiere in GDC’s Spring 2024 Harris engagement. Third Coast Review calls it …” a rousing work” and Chicago City Pleasures hails it as “nothing less than breathtaking.”
• Marinda Davis stunningly dramatic “Flickers” (2019). This work celebrates Davis, her indomitable spirit and unrelenting quest for light amid her personal health darkness. Davis complements a jazz-based aesthetic with the momentary frenzy of ballet beats and frantic percussive shifts of focus. See Chicago Dance calls “Flickers,” “…practically a genre unto itself.”
• “unconditional” (2024) choreographed by GDC Company Dancer Adam Houston. This work was initially developed for “G on G,” GDC’s choreography showcase and investment in its dancers’ artistic expression.
• “Yes, And…” (2010), featuring all 15 GDC dancers and choreographed by former GDC Resident Choreographer Autumn Eckman. This company work draws from one of the most basic tenets of theatrical improv where improvisers build on a forward-moving statement to expand on characters and scenes. “Exciting stuff” says Chicago Stage and Cinema.

Video interludes will be interspersed in the program to provide behind-the-scenes stories and context for the works.

The Harris Theater is located at 205 E. Randolph in Chicag0. Tickets are $25-$95. For tickets or more information visit harristheaterchicago.org.