According to the Chicago Tribune, Aerial Dance Chicago has “justified its commitment to broadening the scope of dance and demonstrating that aerial work can achieve the beauty and poetry of genuine art.”
Aerial Dance Chicago (ADC) was founded in 1999 with a vision of taking dancers into flight. Incorporating a variety of apparatus such as suspended fabrics, bungee cords, hoops, swings and ropes,
dancers were no longer bound to the traditional dance floor, and the company set out to explore the potential for compelling and powerful expression within multi-dimensional space. ADC continues to fill an important niche in the community as the only dance company in the Chicago region dedicated to choreography and performance in field of aerial dance. Using human power and strength, ADC launches itself into the creative and physical possibilities of the vertical realm and transcends assumed limits of dance. One of the world’s first professional aerial dance companies, Aerial Dance Chicago is a pioneer and an international leader in the field. Characterized by extraordinary physicality and originality, the company's work has been presented across the United States at theaters, museums, schools, universities and festivals, including popular hometown venues such as The Athenaeum Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Navy Pier, Museum of Science & Industry, Millennium Park and the historic Grand Ballroom of the Drake Hotel. In January 2014, ADC opened Chicago’s first dance center dedicated to work in the field of aerial dance. Irving Park Rd, with immediate access to 90/94 and the Irving Park Blue line and Metra stop, this new center is situated at a cultural and transit hub in Chicago, and is an asset to the professional performing arts community in Chicago. Today, Aerial Dance Chicago continues to deliver an underrepresented art form to the diverse cultural spectrum in Chicago, reaching over 10,000 people annually. As the company moves forward, creating, performing, teaching and stretching the boundaries of dance, it continues to build a dedicated following.
