The Thank-You Bar, Emily Johnson/Catalyst Dance, photo by Cameron Witting

Emily Johnson/Catalyst Dance

Chicago Premiere

October 7, 8, 9 & 10, 2010    

*Extra Day and Performances Added!*

"fresh and fierce, evocative and disciplined" - Dance Magazine

"at once subtle and driving" - Anchorage Daily News

"postmodern dance's hottest new talent...with remarkable depth and clarity" - Star Tribune, Minneapolis

Since 1998, Catalyst director/choreographer Emily Johnson has created entertaining and thought provoking installations that blur distinctions between performance and life. Currently based in Minneapolis but originally from Alaska, Emily Johnson spent time throughout her childhood at her grandmother's home and bar called The Que-Ana Bar. Inspired by her homeland and these memories, Johnson depicts feelings of displacement—finding herself in one place physically and another emotionally—in her latest full-evening work, The Thank-You Bar. Interweaving dance, music, storytelling and visual image, The Thank-You Bar ("Quyana" is Yup'ik for "Thank You") connects ideas of memory, longing and language to history, preconceived notions, architecture and igloo myth to ask, "What is a true home?" The Thank You Bar creates an intimate space for the truths and illusions of Johnson's stories with limited up-close-and-personal seating on The Dance Center stage. The performance also features live music by James Everest and Joel Pickard of BLACKFISH.

Two performances each evening, including BLACKFISH concert Saturday, October 9 * 9:00 pm

All seating is onstage and limited to 40 patrons per performance.

Chairs and floor cushions will be available on a first-come basis.

Other Events

DanceMasters Class

Monday, October 4 * 6:00-8:00 p.m.    

Post-Performance Discussion

Thursday, October 7

Immediately following the 9:00 performance

BLACKFISH Concert

Saturday, October 9 * 9:00 pm    

BLACKFISH will play their pedal steel guitar and nylon and steel string acoustic guitars in a supplementary show.

$15 tickets are available to the general public

Concert is FREE to all patrons with a ticket stub from The Thank-you Bar.

Here is a link to BLACKFISH music: http://www.hatfarm.com/clients/BLACKFISH/1.html

Download High Resolution Photos

The Dance Center's presentation of Emily Johnson/Catalyst Dance is funded, in part, by the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the National Dance Project, a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts. Major support for the National Dance Project is also provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Illinois Arts Council, General Mills Foundation and Land O'Lakes Foundation.