Thodos Dance Chicago in ‘White City’ and rare Sybil Shearer revivals

Thodos Dance Chicago will kick off the Auditorium Theatre’s 125^th anniversary “Made in Chicago” dance series at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29, with a program of works that in one way or another are deeply rooted in this city’s history.

Opening the program will be the acclaimed 50-minute, one-act story ballet “The White City, Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893,” an homage to the 1893 World’s Fair, created by artistic director Melissa Thodos and Tony Award-winning choreographer Ann Reinking. Set to original compositions by Bruce Wolosoff, it is based on Erik Larson’s best-seller “Devil in the White City,” and suggests actual events occurring just one year after the Auditorium Theatre opened its doors.

The program’s second act of mixed repertoire celebrates Chicago voices past and present with two original works by Chicago modern dance legend Sybil Shearer (1912-2005), who began her career in New York but settled in Chicago in the mid 1940s. For the first time, Thodos Dance, in partnership with the Northbrook-based Morrison-Shearer Foundation and Shearer protégé Toby Nicholson, will debut recreations of Shearer‘s 1956 dance suite, “Salute to Friends,” as well as her masterful 1961 “Time Longs for Eternity.” Video projectors will simulcast archival footage of Shearer performing the same works, making it appear as if one of Chicago’s most influential dance icons is on the Auditorium stage with the Thodos ensemble.

Completing the program will be “Tsuru,” created by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago rehearsal director Lucas Crandall, and “Lullaby,” by independent choreographer Brian Enos.

For a video preview of the concert: http://vimeo.com/111429433

The Auditorium Theatre is at 50 E. Congress. For tickets ($27-$67), call (800) 982-2787 or visit auditoriumtheatre.org.