Upcoming Events & Classes
15-17 November Friday, Sat nights & Sunday matinee.
The Final Doing Drugs & Dying in Space Ritual
There's No Edge to Imaginary Things
3914 N Clark St, Chicago
$10 (purchase tickets)
​
The Runways Lab is thrilled to announce the THIRD & FINAL DOING DRUGS AND DYING IN SPACE RITUAL. I will be performing in one play out of thirteen, "There's No Edge to Imaginary Things by Olivia Cronk & Philip Sorenson, directed by the illustrious Logan Berry. It is GORGEOUS.
​
13 short plays about DOING DRUGS and DYING IN SPACE by: Corie Anderson, Lizzie Bourne, Shani Bensman-Correa & Maximillian Correa, Olivia Cronk & Philip Sorenson, Logan Hart, Colton McCarty, Jessie Mccarty, Daniel Mozurkewich, Nic Park & Alissa Guerra, Barbara Reedy, Gannon Reedy, Casey Toney, Samantha Westlake
Directed by:
Aaron Arbiter, Logan Berry, Dakota Brown, JD Caudill, Niky Crawford, Seraphina Violet Cueller, Danielle Elizabeth, Daniel Mozurkewich, Jillian E. Mueller, Alec Martin Plant, Steak Richardson, Gwen Wiegold
23 November Saturday , 7pm
MEAT from NPK // AmeliaMoon // My Partially Digested Twin // Long-Zalek duo
Outer Sound
3323 W Armitage Ave
$10 at the door
Approx 30 min sets of each!
Amelia Moon Diamond: https://ameliamoon.bandcamp.com/
MEAT from NPK: npktrash.bandcamp.com,
++ Jill Lloyd Flanagan and a new duo project
++ N.w. Long and Sara Zalek
Strange and Beautiful Birds, we are excited to create waves of intimate sound to examine our deepest souls
dark and pithy smacking and licking walls until they crumble we woo you. **For friends of LGBTQ only**
RelaxStation Fall Clinic Dates
October 3, 10, 24; November 14, 21
Office Hours at 564 W. Randolph: 10am-5pm
Email for appointment,
A new office environment experiment for Bodywork sessions to promote one-on-one body/mind wellness care. Great for relief of tension, stress, and fatigue; nurture and reclaim space inside. Services are flexible to suit a schedule, and prices are based on the amount of time we spend together. More information here
12 December Thursday, 9pm
Freedom From and Freedom To
Elastic Arts, 3429 W Diversey Ave #208
$10, BYOB
​
Freedom From And Freedom To is an an Improvisational cross-medium event curated by Cristal Sabbagh. Due to the overwhelming response from the first performance it will be a quarterly event, look out for us in April, August and beyond!! Over 20 musicians and dancers will converge, and audience members will pair them into small groups by chance. Buckle up for a wild ride!
"It's so deeply moving when improvisers open themselves to risk, fully revealing without hiding anything or pretending to be somebody" - Erin Peisert
Recent Events
5 November 8pm-8am
We Series: Sleep
Elastic Arts 3429 W. Diversey Ave. #208
$10 or Pay what you can
​
This chapter is a ritual for rest, sleepers, and insomniacs. Also lullabies, existential exhaustion, cuddling, dreams, sleeplessness, nightmares, snoring. Guests are invited to sleep over, but it is not a requirement.*
Artists include: Joanna Jamerson Andrew Tham and Jeff Kimmel (current conditions) Sam Wagster Medina Perine Elijah Jamal Asani Mitsu Salmon Gina Hoch-Stall Sara Zalek Santina Amato Carole McCurdy Carlos Salazar Lermont
We Series is a festival presenting live art that blurs the boundary between performance and reality. Every Tuesday in November, the We Series offers rituals, participatory performance, and immersion in artist-led experiences.
6 October Sunday | 9PM
Akiyama/Boyd, Krausbauer/Suzuki, Inglizian/Faber, Brock/Alvarez/Zalek/Young
Elastic Arts, 3429 W Diversey Ave #208
$10 BYOB
Maverick improvising guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama joins conceptual sound artist Mykel Boyd and many others for an exciting lineup of innovative new music.
12 September Thursday, 9pm
Freedom From and Freedom To
Elastic Arts, 3429 W Diversey Ave #208
$10, BYOB
​
Freedom From And Freedom To is an an Improvisational cross-medium event curated by Cristal Sabbagh.
Participants (Dancers): Cristal Sabbagh Jasmine Mendoza Andrea Wukitsch Wannapa P/ Eubanks Sara Zalek Peter Redgrave Zach Nicol Erin Peisert Ed Clemons Keisha Bennette
Participants (Musicians): Eli Sabbagh (percussion) Ramah Malebranche (guitar)
Angel Bat Dawid (clarinet, voice) Adam Zanolini (Bass) N.w. Long (electronics/sound effects) Janice Misurell-Mitchell (flute) Ugochi Nwaogwugwu (voice) Dan Schwarzlose (trumpet, theremin) Lia Khol (cello)
10 August Saturday | 3-5pm
The Bird, the Bee, and the Tree
Comfort Station Logan Square, Chicago
FREE
This two hour outdoor movement workshop is open to ages 7 and up and all abilities. Beginning with group breath and creative body warmups to open our sense awareness, the group that gathers will explore in small groups and then create an improvisation on the lawn in front of the Comfort Station.
20 July Saturday
MSAE Summer Soundwalks: Listening for Resilience
Big Marsh Park, 11155 S. Stony Island Ave, Chicago
3-5pm
RSVP
​
Norman W. Long and Sara Zalek lead an exploration of resiliency through Big Marsh Park. Includes exercises which ready the body for listening acutely and sharing our encounters. Presented by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Night Out In the Parks brings arts and culture to over 500 parks across the city, free and open for public participation.
30 June Sunday
@Experimental Sound Studio , 5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago at 3 PM to embark; the walk will finish back there around 5 PM. Participants are then welcome to join the group at Roman Susan afterwards to discuss the experience. FREE and open to the public.
​
A silent walk focusing on listening to the diverse soundscape of the west Edgewater neighborhood. Led by artist trio N.w. Long, Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson and Sara Zalek.
1 June Saturday
Long Poem
As a part of “What’s behind this door?” exhibition
Gallery show 12-4pm
Performance 1pm, discussion 2-4pm
@Oliva Gallery, 3816 W Armitage Ave, Chicago, IL
We add water to wine
art to life wine to ideas
water to art art to words
We will ask each other and you about the ways our art-making
reflects, influences or resists the world we live in and vice versa.
31 May Friday
Hautnah "Close to the Skin"
Student Performance
Doors open 7pm, performance begins 7:30pm
@OuterSpace Studios, 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL
$10 (suggested donation)
​
Six day Intensive Butoh Workshop culminating in a student performance. Truly a family experience, we will provide light snacks and beverages, feel free to BYOB.
10 May Friday
Gold Test: Intestine
The Inside is Not Different than the Outside
5:30pm
The International Museum of Surgical Science, Chicago, IL
​
Spend the evening awake in your senses with three visceral Butoh performances by Jon Poindexter, Sara Zalek, and Holly Chernobyl.
This is from a series of improvisations on reflection, repair, and cyborgs.
In this work, I explore relationships between metal and body, iteration and instance, presence and absence. I aim to create mythologies which question the nature of how stories are created and reiterated, and examine our human condition to search for the magic elixir.
26 May Friday
Practical Flats
7-11pm
@TCC Chicago, 2547 W North Ave, Chicago, IL
​
with Sara Zalek/Samir Gangwani/L I L I T H/Al Markus
Hosted by Jill Lloyd Flanagan, an amalgamation of sound, performance, immersion, and re-imagination.
26 January Saturday
Gold Test: Ears
7:30pm doors, 8pm performance
Light Box Performance
8641 Linwood St, Detroit, MI
​
Performing as a visiting artist in residence @LightBox, from a series of experiments on reflection, repair, and cyborgs. Inspired by Tatsumi Hijikata (founder of Butoh) and David Cronenberg (sci-fi filmmaker)
Also performing in the evening, Detroit-based artist, Beatrice VS!
In this work, we explore relationships between metal and body, iteration and instance, presence and absence. There will be both sound and movement created in the moment which aim to question the meaning of our lives together in the moment of creation. This performance suggests a story rather than narrates one - we invite viewers to find their own relevance and meaning in the work. We aim to create mythologies which question the nature of how stories are created and reiterated, and examine our human condition to search for the magic elixir.
11 January Friday
Transparent Bodies
8pm
High Concept Labs, Mana Contemporary, 2233 S. Throop, Chicago, IL
​
Transparent Bodies is an exploration of hybrid theater that unifies the physical and sonic dimensions of performance using movement, sound, objects, and sensory technological interventions. The project is a collaboration between composer/multimedia artist Sivan Cohen Elias, butoh dancer/choreographer/artist Sara Zalek and pianist/performer Mabel Kwan. At its heart: the theme of secrets. Hidden secrets, revealed secrets, reflections, distorted truths, illusion, hyperrealism and the in-between.
We invite you to come investigate with us, this world of secrets, created during our unique residency period of December 24-Jan 12. Our incubation period is brief, so through our performance, your interaction, and the in-between, we create stories that begin with diamonds in haystacks, and end as forgotten dust bunnies under the bed.
http://highconceptlabs.org/operabutohlab/
30 November Friday
Formidable Dreams Film Screening and Panel Discussion with In/Motion
7:30pm
Chicago Filmmakers, 5720 N Ridge Ave, Chicago, IL 60660
Presented by Pivot Arts, the event includes a film screening and panel discussion.
Films to be screened include All by Sarah C. Prinz, Danny Rosenberg, and Amy Wilkinson; Separate Sentences by Austin Forbord and Amy Dowling; Insan by Tommy Pascal; and Formidable Dreams by Eugene Sun Park and Sara Zalek.
The post-screening panel includes Amy Wilkinson, artistic director of In/Motion, along with artists Sara Zalek and Diana Quinones Rivera, moderated by Pivot Arts Director Julieanne Ehre.
16 November Friday
OSCILLATIONS: DIVYAMAAN SAHOO / LES CHANTEUSES DU REIN
8:00 PM 9:30 PM
ESS 5925 North Ravenswood Ave Chicago, IL, 60660 (MAP)
​
Two structured improvisations, one with our students (10 min), and one with our trio (30 min). For both, we wish to use the whole space, moving from back to front and through, activating the various spaces and their resonance with our voices and movement. The audience will be expected to follow or find themselves immersed from wherever they choose.
Our goal is to mount microphones with maximum capacity for movement, and to attune our proximity and relation to them in interesting ways, allowing us to relate to these objects as real and even “human”, as legitimate ears. We are interested in how the audience perceives our focus and attention to these inanimate but essential record takers, and play with the provocative nature of having to choose one over the other.
​
Open Voice: Micro Drone
28 October, 4 & 11 November
Sundays, 6-8pm
OuterSpace Studios, 1474 North Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL
Open Voice is a two hour voice workshop focusing on vocal technique, sense exploration, body opening, and improvisation. We share vocal and movement warm-ups and use experimental scores to examine possibilities and discovery in the unique mix of the present bodies and voices. Open Voice is a fun and inclusive environment, meant to build listening skills and confidence in decision making among individuals and groups. Open Voice is open to all with the option to perform at Experimental Sound Studios on November 16. Contact me if you have questions, sara@saratonin.com.
26 & 27 October Friday & Saturday
Propositional Worlds
SITE/less
1250 W. Augusta Blvd.
Donation Suggested
​
A showcase of interactionist dance and instructionist performance works, profiled in Propositional Attitudes, edited by Elana Mann and John Burtle (Golden Spike Press, LA, 2018) alongside Michael Workman’s Perfect Worlds: Artistic Forms & Social Imaginaries, (StepSister Press, Toronto). In addition, Mat Rappaport’s “range”—a delivery truck mounted with multiple external cameras— will “dock” at the SITE/less loading bay, where, in collaboration with architect David Sundry, it will become an architectural interface and interactive point of entry. During the weekend of October 26–28, artists featured in Propositional Attitudes, along with other Chicago movers, will perform a selection of the book’s scores, which also will be on display for viewers to perform. Conversations focusing on instructionist and social practice art, and politics will also take place.
​
25 October Thursday
7-10PM
SPONSORED ARTIST SHOWCASE
Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave.
ADA accessible
street parking available, accessible by CTA
​
Sivan Cohen Elias, Mabel Kwan and I team up to create a special immersion work this winter at HCL. Support us by coming and enjoying the night at HCL’s Fall Open House: An Artist Showcase is the event of the season, a place to meet & greet dozens of current and former Sponsored Artists as they share a mix of their innovative works in progress and entertaining final pieces with you. Make new friends at Constellation and enjoy beverages, light bites, performances, installations, music, and much, much more. #HCLOpenHouse
21 October Sunday
Elevate Chicago Dance
Chicago Cultural Center
ALL DAY -
Free and open to the public
++Formidable Dreams Film Premiere++
​
Our first official showcase of Formidable Dreams, created and produced by collaboration between Eugene Sun Park and Sara Zalek in the Claudia Cassidy Theater. Program is 11am-1:30pm. Formidable Dreams at 11:55am. Installation can be viewed outside the GAR Rotunda all day. Stop by!
The broadly defined theme of the day explores intersections between Dance, Space, Race, and Place. Forty + Elevate Chicago Dance 2018 artists, through a diverse range of dance and interdisciplinary works, make connections with current ideas about the dynamics between race, social spaces, and personal and body histories. For artists as well as for public audiences, the cultural, political and architectural history of the Chicago Cultural Center building is a powerful setting for these relevant considerations. Dance performances will activate all the floors and multiple public areas of the landmark Chicago Cultural Center, including the Claudia Cassidy Theater, GAR Hall, the Dance Studio, and Preston Bradley Hall.
11-14 October
Thursday - Saturday 7:30pm, Sunday 4pm
Pivot Arts presents
Charged Spaces/Changing Bodies
Performances in Historic Sites
The Institute for Cultural Affairs, 4750 N. Sheridan Road +
Lawrence House, 1020 W. Lawrence Avenue
Works by Anna Martine Whitehead
Carole McCurdy + Sara Zalek, Elaine Lemieux, Hanna Brock
Co-Curated by Julieanne Ehre and Peter Taub
Suggested Donation $20
Space is limited. Reserve in Advance HERE.
​
Pivot Arts proudly presents a series of site-specific performances in two historic Uptown buildings overlapping with Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House Chicago weekend. The performance begins at the Institute for Cultural Affairs 4750 N. Sheridan Road with Notes on Territory written, choreographed and performed by Anna Martine Whitehead. Audiences are then led across the street to Lawrence House 1020 W. Lawrence Avenue for Les Chanteuses du Rien created and performed by Sara Zalek, Elaine Lemieux, Hanna Brock — the piece will take place in the Lawrence House lobby and culminate in the swimming pool. Five Stud Stud by Carole McCurdy will take place in the Lawrence House’s gym space.
​
For more detailed information about performances and the artist bios please visit pivotarts.org/events.
14 Sept Friday
Café Mustache
2113 N Milwaukee Ave
9pm
FREE
​
Returning to the next installment of The Singleman Affair's Orpheatric Variety Show! Always pleasing mix of music, art, and comedy, hosted by Daniel Schneider.
This will be a collaborative event featuring a multimedia myriad of different performances designed to enlighten the mind, body, and soul.
Participating Artists:
Archy Arch
Mathew Clark
Sara Zalek
Bumble B & the Royal We
The Singleman Affair
Samantha Berkman
02 Sept Sunday
Elastic Arts
3429 W Diversey Ave #208
9pm $10 cover
​
Norman W. Long’s Electro-Acoustic Dubcology I-IV on Reserve Matinee
Composed between 2007 - 2012, now packaged together in a limited cassette edition by Reserve Matinee and also available on Bandcamp.
Participating Artists:
Angel Bat Dawid
Xris Espinoza
Esper Werm
Exhibitionist
NW Long
Sara Zalek
​
08 Sept Saturday
The Martin
2515 W. North Ave.
7:30pm Doors, Program @8pm
$10 suggested donation
To celebrate the premiere of Mandy Work and Shannon Metelko's short, "Unknown", which is an experimental film exploring anxiety, a night filled with performance, film, and art dedicated to the light and dark of mental health, the silver linings, and what we do to feel better.
A portion of the evenings proceeds will be donated to a local organization, ALSO conversations that result in less stigma and more self-love.
Participating Artists:
Michelle Chorski
Les Chanteuses Du Rien (Sara Zalek,
Elaine Victoria, Hanna Brock)
Alex Heller
Eve Rydberg
Shannon Metelko + Mandy Work Wetzel
Ayo Viti
Jennie Ellman
09 Sept Sunday
12-4pm
6018North Kenmore &
Lane Beach 5915 N. Sheridan Rd.
Water Music on the Beach begins at 6018 North Kenmore Avenue within the Living Architecture. At 12:30PM Balas and Wax lead us in a procession and discussion about the materiality of migration, a force which drove people from their homes in the process of creating Lake Shore Drive in the Edgewater neighborhood. From Ardmore Avenue, SPQ will lead us to Lane Beach at Thorndale Avenue and Sheridan Road for an afternoon of sound performances.
This is a collaborative event – Water Music on the Beach is an annual project hosted by 6018North – this year, the project is co-hosted by Roman Susan Art Foundation.
Participating Artists:
Susy Bielak and Fred Schmalz
Simon Anderson
Katinka Kleijn with Jasmine Mendoza
Norman Long with Gwyneth Anderson & Sara Zalek
Steve Marquette with Aurora Nealand
James Singleton
Paul Thibodeaux
AJ McClenon
Carlos Salazar Lermont
Recovering Soundscape Soundwalk
@Big Marsh
11555 S. Stony Island Ave.
Saturday June 9, 4pm-6pm
Free and open to the public! All welcome!
Meet at entry plaza next to parking lot.
Soundwalk and Site Specific Performance led by:
Norman W. Long & Sara Zalek
​
What is a Soundwalk?
A soundwalk is a guided exploration of a site using listening focused skills. We will listen to how the site sounds, as we are moving through it. I believe that through listening we have a tool to define communities and ourselves. We also can use those tools to shape who we are and where we live. We will be listening for changes, interactions, conditions, weather, traffic, animals, insects, people, vehicles and other factors in what makes a place what it is.
Brought to you by Peter Woods:
Milwaukee performance, Saturday, May 5th w/ local support from Cooperative Performance
The second show of the 2018 Experimental Education Series, a quarterly concert series with accompanying workshops designed to illuminate the often opaque genre of experimental music/performance while simultaneously amplifying the voices of female and non-binary experimental artists.
The Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts (926 E Center St)
CONCERT at 8:00 // WORKSHOP at 4:00
All Ages
$6-12 donation encouraged*
The EES is presented by
FTAM PRODUCTIONS- http://ftamproductions.com/
FREESPACE- https://freespacemke.wordpress.com/
WMSE- http://www.wmse.org/
THE JAZZ GALLERY CENTER FOR THE ARTS- http://www.riverwestart.org/
UW-MADISON NETWORK FELLOWS- http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~saikat/projects/network_site/
Yelling at the Dark!
--performance exchange between Chicago and Madison--
Saturday March 3, 7-10pm
Elastic Arts, 3429 W Diversey Ave #208, Chicago, IL
Saturday March 10 7:30-10:30pm
Arts + Literature Laboratory, 2021 Winnebago St, Madison, WI
​
Two evenings of live art (a mix of sound and movement based performance) celebrating the simultaneous absurdity and exhilaration of an insignificant act. The possibility of doing nothing. To explore strength in vulnerability, being our incongruous selves, recognizing our obtuse nature. Bubbling to the surface and being loud to root in embodiment.
Participating Artists **artists not in order of appearance, TBA
​
From Madison:
db pedersen (**Chicago only)
From Chicago:
Les Chanteuses du rien (Elaine Lemieux Hanna Brock Sara Zalek)
Mimi Wallman
Aurora Tabar of Existential Coat Check
Special Guest:
Jakob Maché for performance and two day workshop at Outerspace 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL (**Chicago only)
March 2, 3-6pm
March 3, 12-3pm
Organizers:
Sara Zalek, artist at Large
Christine Olson, performance and movement artist,
Special Thanks to Elastic Arts, Arts + Literature Laboratory and OuterSpace Studios for their generosity of spirit, time, and space!
