Barefootnotes Chicago Style
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The Dance Enthusiast Takes a Field Trip to Dance USA's 2011 Annual Conference
Welcome to Dance-Chicago Style
July 13, 2011
Scene: Opening Reception -On Stage at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Well, people from Chicago are seriously enthusiastic about our art form and what it can do for a community, and as the expression goes, they put their money where their mouth is. Amy Fitterer, the Executive Director of Dance/USA , in her opening remarks tonight commented that the Chicago host committee is the largest ever in Dance/USA history -- that would be 57 volunteers on the committee to welcome us out of towners to Chicago, divided into 11 subcomittees to really get down to business. Even the Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, has a strong dance background. Encouraged or coerced (at first) by his parents to become involved, he studied here in Chicago at the Joel Hall Dance Center and at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Now he takes his kids to dance class and continues the tradition of involvement in the art. Tonight when Mayor Emanuel addressed the Dance/USA event --an event he circled in his calendar contending to his assistant " I am doing this no matter what" -- he joked, " I just want you to know you're making one Jewish mother happy, I can finally tell her I made it to the stage of a dance performance. Thank you for that."
A Dance Minute with The Mayor of Chicago