Reviews

It’s time to get emotional about climate change with The Seldoms’ ‘Exit Disclaimer’ Dec 13, 2019 | By Jordan Kunkel “If you exit this page, if you exit this conversation, any action taken is at your own risk.” The Seldoms dancer Maggie Vannucci mimicked the standard exit disclaimer for when you leave a standard government […]

November 15, 2018 By Lauren Warnecke The Seldoms are sporting straggly beards and long, free-flowing hair this weekend, which can only mean one thing: “RockCitizen” is back. Premiered in 2016, this evening-length work came second in a trio of dances by Seldoms artistic director Carrie Hanson. With “Power Goes” (2015) and “The Making” (2017), the […]

Movement Politics The Seldoms Rock Citizenship, From the Sixties to Now RockCitizen uses the social movements of the 1960s as a starting point for probing questions of citizenship and social activism today. Multimedia dance theater becomes an immersive means of scrutinizing whether what happened then can help us grapple with what is going on now. RockCitizen […]

Seldoms’ “Marchland” A Dangerous World Jun 24, 2018 | By Lynn Colburn Shapiro You would certainly not hesitate to call The Seldoms a dance company, but it has carved a unique identity for its bold use of dance to dive headlong into global issues that typically transcend dance and go well beyond the range of […]

Carrie Hanson’s work never been more important. Hanson and her company The Seldoms charge headlong into the most uncomfortable topics at the center of our cultural conversation—capitalism, environmental devastation and, over the course of three shows in as many years, power itself—with a studious approach to dance theater that moves the mind by stirring the […]

“Welcome to The World of The Seldoms’ ‘The Making’ ” Irene Hsiao, Chicago Reader November 15, 2017 Painted banners hang long and low from the rafters of the Pulaski Park Field House, and when the music begins with a noise like a siren, the dancers flicker in and out of view through them, as animals […]

Vantage Points At Play In The Seldoms’ “The Making” Nov 11, 2017 | By Lynn Colburn Shapiro If you want to experience something really different, refreshing, and thought-provoking, go see The Seldoms’ latest multi-media installment, “The Making,” (7:30 PM, November 9-18, Pulaski Park Field House, 1419 W. Blackhawk. Note: next Thursday is free, but space […]

By Sharon Hoyer November 10, 2017 “I’m interested in how we get to know people—or don’t and fill in the gaps,” says Carrie Hanson, artistic director of The Seldoms, after a rehearsal for her new piece “The Making.” “And how perception shapes this. How we recognize people in different contexts.” This latest piece from Hanson […]

The Seldoms explore the dark web in Philip Elson’s ‘The Fifth’ By Laura Molzahn October 4, 2016 During the recent presidential debate, candidates were asked specifically about cyberattacks. Because when it comes to national security, the battlefield is no longer just about troops and boots, it’s about cyber recruiting, reconnaissance and warfare — what’s been […]

May 12, 2016 Brianna Wellen Cara, take off your bra,” Sarah Gonsiorowski bawls into a megaphone in the opening scene of RockCitizen. And as the other dancers look on, Cara Sabin wriggles out of her bra and tosses it onto the catwalk above the stage. “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,” the […]

Carrie Hanson’s company The Seldoms has long been a vehicle for performance that uses dance theater and stagecraft to question the most pressing concerns of our time, from environmentalism to economics. This year, Hanson and her collaborators took The Seldoms’ theater of inquiry to a breathtaking new level with “Power Goes.” Inspired by the political […]

Chicago Tribune December 23, 2015 By Laura Molzahn Politics and dance make strange bedfellows. Issue-oriented dance is generally either too oblique, burying the politics, or too overt, becoming preachy and unconvincing, except to the choir. Balancing these two extremes, choreographer Carrie Hanson makes politically oriented pieces so passionate yet nuanced it can be difficult to […]

New City “Best of Chicago” 2015 by Sarah Conway Some choreographers make movement for movement’s sake, some are inspired by music or an image, some turn to traditional narrative and folklore as subject matter. And then there’s Carrie Hanson. The artistic director of The Seldoms finds her muse in the headlines, history and the pressing […]

“New National Center for Choreography up and running (and dancing) at University of Akron” By Zachary Lewis, The Plain Dealer July 30, 2015 AKRON, Ohio – Add modern dance to the Rubber City’s list of exports. The new home of only the second National Center for Choreography in the United States, Cleveland’s neighbor to the […]

The Seldoms’ “Power Goes:” Food For Thought By Lynn Colburn Shapiro, seechicagodance.com One of the best things about The Seldoms’ “Power Goes” (Museum of Contemporary Art, March 20-29) is that its intelligence is so thoroughly organic, not an easy thing to carry off when you’re dancing about Lyndon Baines Johnson! But dance they do, with […]

Dance meets multimedia spectacle in the stunning Power Goes By Brianna Wellen, Chicago Reader The Seldoms are no strangers to political themes: Stupormarket (2011) explored the nation’s economic crisis, Exit Disclaimer (2012) focused on the debate surrounding climate change, and Monument, a 2008 work revived in 2013, took on consumerism and the environment. What’s different […]

“With fist jabs and shifting smiles, ‘Power Goes’ is politics of LBJ” by Laura Molzahn, Chicago Tribune Herding cats: Now there’s a skill politicians could use today. Lyndon Baines Johnson, our folksy dictator-president of the ’60s, had it by the ton, alternately muscling and charming his victim-cohorts into obedience, passing the legislation he wanted, including […]

What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals. — Robert Caro, Johnson biographer Lyndon Baines Johnson, thirty-sixth president of the United States, was an imposing man. Six foot four, from the destitute Hill Country region of Texas, he had a lust for domination and control that was legendary. His main ambition sometimes […]

The Atmosphere of Exit Disclaimer: Science and Fiction Ahead “If you think you can solve a serious environmental question like global warming without actually confronting the question of by whom and how the foundational value structure of our society is being determined, then you are kidding yourself.” — David Harvey, Companion to Marx’s Capital Exit […]

“The Seldoms’ ‘Monument’ triumphs over trash” DANCE REVIEW: The Seldoms “Monument” at Stage 773 September 28, 2013 | By Laura Molzahn | Special to the Tribune Carrie Hanson’s “Monument” is a big, noisy children’s game with a deadly serious intent. Heedless, the six Seldoms performers make faces and toss themselves and others around like toys […]

The Assorted Bonbons of The Seldoms “Mix With Six” “Dancers turned choreographers in DIY showcase” by Laura Molzahn For “Mix With Six,” the Seldoms’ first-ever company showcase, artistic director Carrie Hanson asked her dancers to step outside their comfort zones and choreograph. Five of the six did, with remarkably fine results. Two of them—like Hanson […]