Jojo Alsberry leads the return of Chicago’s annual dance showcase

The Rundown | Chicago News

Jonathan “Jojo” Alsberry – known by some in the dance community as “the Kevin Bacon of dance” – is taking the reins this year as the lead choreographer of the finale of Dance For Life. The annual Chicago dance showcase features performances from several local companies, including Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, Giordano Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet, Trinity Irish Dance Company and Visceral Dance Chicago.

“I want the work to be a celebration of the beautiful, loving and diverse community that we have in Chicago around dance,” Alsberry said on the Rundown podcast. “There are many, many dance communities we have here and I want to celebrate that.”

Dance for Life was originally created in the early 1990s as a fundraiser for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Today, the organization that puts on the showcase – the Chicago Dance Health Fund – offers healthcare relief to anyone working in Chicago’s dance community.

“A lot of people don’t realize that a lot of the dancers don’t have health insurance,” said Michael Anderson, vice president of the Chicago Dance Health Fund board of directors. “So being able to offer them mental health, or co-pays for their doctor visits, or a lead for dental, all those things are really important to keep them healthy or active.”

Rundown podcast host Erin Allen sat down with Alsberry and Anderson to talk about this year’s Dance For Life and why the creative process is just as important – if not more so – than the final dance the audience sees.

This year’s Dance For Life takes place Aug. 10 at the Auditorium Theater.