tune in to elastic arts!

How can a musical community come together to emotionally process life in a changing and forever-changed environment? The three compositions premiered in this performance explore responses to this question by composers Scott Rubin, Alissa Voth and Ben Zucker, and videographer Zack Sievers. Performers seek to create a shared musical space for reckoning with themes of nature, loss, nostalgia, erosion and erasure on multiple planes. Interspersed between these pieces are short film clips exploring themes of ritual, healing, and environmental change in which both the musicians from the trio and some of their friends engage with the rapidly changing ecosystems of the Warren Dunes.

Welcome to 2025! After an amazing 2024 for our Pleaides Series, we’re ready to take on another year of excellent programming. But first, we jam.

Tonight’s the night for all femme/trans/non-binary artists to join us at Elastic and participate in an all-night jam session! We’ll get your name on a list and decide upon small ensembles on the spot. You can sign up by emailing pleiades@elasticarts.org or just show up. All levels of musicianship welcome! We can’t wait to see you for the 3rd Annual JAN JAM!

$FREE$

J e l l o Performance Series presents The Ooze, a night of dance curated by Mya McClellan. This event brings together talented artists to share their unique solo works and dive into a collective improvisation led by Mya. Expect an evening of creativity and experimentation.

Cast:
Alex Kinard
Hermiz Da God
Janiah Cooper Charles
Brittany Bradley
Hasani Cannon
Sandy Perez

Please join us for Soft Power- A Deep Listening and Rest Session led by Angela James w/ Emily Beisel, Sarah Clausen, Veronica Anne-Salinas, and Mai Sugimoto. This new offering by Angela James combines guided meditation, simple movement/breath work, and improvised ambient sound for deep communal relaxation. Participants will bring their own yoga mat and blanket to lie down comfortably on the floor and rest together. No experience or skill necessary, the goal is to unwind together and tune the parasympathetic nervous systems through breath and gentle sound.

Unique collaborations abound tonight, in the style of the uniquely Chicago blend of free jazz and rock: First, Three Grebes (Kalamazoo/Chicago) and Floating Cave join forces to create a mixture of improvised songs and drones, expanding a singular guitar and tuba-driven rock sound with exploratory electronics. Then, a quartet assembled by saxophonist Gabriel Heinemann combines up-and-coming forces in Chicago jazz with some of its’ most stalwart legends.

Elastro is back with an exciting first event of 2025 featuring Chris Pitsiokos, Anti-Soul Organization, and BAKUDI SCREAM! Chris will present a piece titled Irrational Rhythms and Shifting Poles which is an evolving project for saxophone and laptop that explores 4-channel audio, subjective listening, rhythms generated by irrational numbers, and polarity shifting. Aesthetically, the project is hard to pin down, but draws on minimalism, noise, free jazz, ambient music, and dance music.

Rohan Chander (a.k.a BAKUDI SCREAM)’s work considers questions of postcoloniality in the diaspora through hindoo historical research and speculative fiction. Built on the creative practices of DJs and long form composition, his work manifests as cyberpunk performance art pieces with costumes, dance, music, and light.

Anti-Soul Organization is an industrial noise and techno trio based in Chicago, Illinois. Join us!

Presenting two bands crafting the perfect high-intensity balance of jazz and rock energy!

Shake Shook Shaken is a theater/movement workshop series produced by Julie Meckler. The series is designed for people to gently bring body awareness, allowing participants to open up, explore outside of their comfort zone, bond with each other, create and show. By playing with these concepts using our bodies, voices, words, and each other, we will explore our own awareness and sensitivity as artists and people. 

Shake Shook Shaken is a dream of what a safe space could allow. A vision of a place for everybody to gather, look at each other, play and create in a non judgmental, trauma-informed way. It’s an invitation, a journey within and out, a surprise. Each workshop is unique. This month we’ll have Joey Meland and Julie leading on the topic of CONVERSATION.

No prior dance or acting experience is necessary, just willingness to move and exhale. This workshop series is for anyone and everyone.

IMS brings the double trio trouble — up-and-coming players bring a fresh spin on the piano trio format, followed by a chamber trio whose amplifications promise to push their instruments to the edge.