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Please support our creative community, and be generous. Your support goes
a long way! Please email info@elasticarts.org with any live stream questions.
Please support our creative community, and be generous. Your support goes
a long way! Please email info@elasticarts.org with any live stream questions.
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.
FFFT returns for its third iteration of sound and movement collaborations for 2025! Freedom From and Freedom To is an exploration and celebration of artistic circumstance. Movement and sound improvisors from all around Chicago gather in front of a live audience, where they are grouped by chance. Each group performs an improvised set. We fuse diverse artistic backgrounds and practices to create unique and fleeting worlds. There will be a special opening set from musicians Caitlin Edwards, Avreeayl Ra, and Yaw alongside dancers Solomon Bowser and Rahila Coats. Following we’ll have 6 x 15 minute sets from on-the-spot lottery chosen ensembles. Don’t miss this!
‘A Defiant Echo’ is a multimedia play written and directed by Kyle Gregory Price. The premiere of this play will utilize Elastic Arts’ CLEAT sound system as well as multi-channel video. Britt Anderson, Richie Schiraldi, Kao, Surinder Martignetti, Gordon Fung and Justin Cavazos perform live with interspersed projections of Deirdre Harrison and Brian Shaw.
We gather during the holidays once again to celebrate Elastic Arts, our community, and the great things that have happened with the organization over the past year.
We'll have a few nibbles and sips, fellowship and music, warmth, comfort, joy, and a chance to become an Elastic Arts Member!
Bring anyone you love and anything you'd love to share.
Heliogabalus is Eric Leonardson, springboard; Lili Wosko, cello; Andy Cohn, piano; Christophe Preissing, flutes, voice, noise box; with special guest, Tatsu Aoki, shamisen. Heliogabalus, or Elagabalus in honor of the god his family worshiped, was a Roman emperor known for their extravagant and eccentric behavior. Sometimes celebrated as an example of an ancient transgender person, their brief reign acts as a prism into religion, gender and sexuality, ethnicity and racism presaging modern themes. Like Heliogabalus, the group's improvisations are unrestrained, elaborate, ornate, and excessive.
Carol Genetti and Riley Leitch will perform duo. Carol Genetti is a Chicago-based vocalist whose work encompasses sound and visual art media. Her vocal palette is primordial, existing in a space where “language” and “music” have yet to be formulated into familiar cultural patterns. Riley Leitch is a composer and performer of contemporary, creative, and freely improvised music. His practice is founded around trombone playing but extends across multiple disciplines.
8:30 Genetti/Leitch Duo
9:30 Heliogabalus wsg Tatsu Aoki
$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door
The first Frequency Leak DRONE READ is here at Elastic Arts!
This event is intended to create an environment for listening to live ambient drone music while reading (BYOBook) and to encourage people to talk about what they are reading with friends, maybe make some new friends, or spawn a book club. Come at the beginning to read, come at the end to dance.
The space will be set with cozy reading areas and individual book lights will be provided. The evening will start with static lights and installations. Visuals and fog will be brought in after the drone read for the DJ sets.
We have a very special Elastro series to close out 2025 w/ SMACT Ensemble, Yes Yes Nooky, and Giallorenzo/Jesalva/Damon!
This month’s Pleiades features pianist Laurie Lee Moses and clarinetist Sarah Craft, first brought together at our Improv Jam and now performing as a duo. They’re followed by Heavy Tiny (Lia Kohl and Nick Meryhew), a dense miniature world of field recordings, synths, walkie-talkies, and found objects that feels bigger inside than out.
Following the performances we’ll have our classics Pleiades Jam open to all femme/trans/non-binary performers. Bring your instrument, body, voice! Sign up at pleiades@elasticarts.org or when you arrive.
A string-focused night with drummer Weasel Walter assembling a quartet with 2 violins and double bass coupled with Akjai, a quartet with violin, cello, double bass, and vocals brought in by our very own Ishmael Ali.
It’s that time of year — DKV Trio is back for their annual two night run here at Elastic Arts! This fantastic pairing of journeymen Chicago improvisers found its roots in the mid-1990’s and has worked actively since that time. It has become an important tradition for this group to finish out the year for us here at Elastic, so we hope you can join us for one or both of these shows.
Ken Vandermark - reeds
Kent Kessler - bass
Hamid Drake - drums
