Red Bull Flying Bach: 4-Time World Break Dance Champions to “Turn Up” Civic Opera House

This is a guest post by Anna Dron.

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I first saw the advertisement before watching my desired YouTube video. The second thing I did was watch the trailer all the way to the end. The third thing I did was ask all my friends if they’d like to go with me. I found out in March that the Red Bull Flying Bach is coming to Chicago’s Civic Opera House June 20-29 for six performances only and I have been looking forward to it ever since.

Let me tell you why we should be so excited for this. First, I’m an English gal. My B.A. in English Literary Studies has given me a unique perspective on how America’s historical moments have shaped the culture of then (Classicism, Romanticism, Modernism) and now (Post-modernism). Second, I’m a classically trained pianist who will jump at hearing live classical music in the Civic Opera House. The point is, this mixture of what “used to be”, what is now, and the cajones to try to successfully combine things that which initially would not seem to coexist.

We are a product of modernist culture, which combines two seemingly separate things into an incredible combination—urban dance choreography (by Vartan Bassil) performed by four-time break dance world champions The Flying Steps with Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier with its electronic beats performed under opera director and pianist Christoph Hagel’s direction. And, in case you’re worried that break dancing might disrupt the the classical music, Swedish ballerina Anna Holmstrom will bring us back to the finesse of the orchestra by enhancing the performance of the seven male break-dancers of The Flying Steps with ballet.

So far, each performance out of those shown in 24 European cities has sold out and Chicago is lucky enough to be the exclusive U.S. stop! Tickets range from $24 – $88 and are now on sale. You can claim yours by visiting http://www.ticketmaster.com/Red-Bull-Flying-Bach-tickets/artist/1595623 or by visiting the Civic Opera House box office. Red Bull Flying Bach will be performed over two weekends only:  Friday and Saturday evenings, June 20, 21, 27 & 28, at7:30pm, and Sunday afternoons, June 22 & 29, at 2pm.