A Giordano show is always a multi-layered display of art and entertainment, not so much defying barriers and boundaries as transcending them.
AOTPR.COM
When the curtain falls and the evening ends, there are a lot of grateful, happily satisfied customers
Time Out Chicago
Giordano gave me confidence.
Adriana
4th Grade GDC outreach student
JAZZ DANCE WORLD CONGRESS
JAZZ DANCE WORLD CONGRESS
JAZZ DANCE WORLD CONGRESS
America's Original Jazz Dance Company
OUR MISSION
Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) illuminates beauty and invigorates the world with deep connections.
We create and present innovative jazz dance choreography, often redefining and expanding the very definition of jazz dance, and bring this invaluable American art form to audiences and students of all ages and from all ethnic backgrounds. GDC is dedicated, also, to the preservation and promotion of the Giordano Technique. Whether on the stage or in the classroom, we strive to enrich lives through dance, and this solid mission and organizational vision inform the organization’s artistic programming.
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Stated simply, Giordano Dance Chicago offers to all the universal and life-affirming experience of witnessing dance that is powerful, passionate, elegant, and celebratory.
OUR COMPANY
America’s original jazz dance company soars into their 61st season with energy and momentum. Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) is an iconic cultural institution with deep roots in Chicago and around the globe. From its origins in founder Gus Giordano’s original school in Evanston, Ill, to its current incarnation as a Chicago-based world-class dance company, GDC boasts more than a half century of worldwide performances (28 countries, 47 states, more than 1300 cities). Entering her 39th season, Nan Giordano has led the company as Artistic Director, responsible for commissioning innovative choreographic works and mentoring thousands of aspiring dancers. The company is one of few in the world that has a foundational technique (NGCP©) with certified teachers in 36 states and 8 countries. This season, GDC’s robust schedule will include touring performances around the US including Naples, Fla., Dallas, Texas and Santa Fe, N. Mex. GDC is committed to outreach at home and on tour. In their home city, their Jazz Dance/Science & Health program is a robust program in which GDC company dancers teach 250 classes to hundreds of students in four under resourced CPS schools at no cost to them.
FOUR CORE VALUES
As one of the longest-running jazz dance companies in the world, GDC occupies a singular position within the local, national, and international dance communities. Guided by foundational commitments to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access, we embrace Four Core Values:
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LEGACY - GDC honors its 61 year history of creating and presenting exuberant jazz dance, acknowledging, and celebrating the cultures and traditions that provide the foundation of this work.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION - Art is meant to be seen, shared, and performed by all. We are committed to being inclusive in all that we do through fostering communities of dancers, students, audience members, donors, staff, and board members and reaching people of all backgrounds through our commitment to artistic excellence, inclusivity, and equity.
COMMUNITY - GDC values the power of collaboration, respect, and integrity across local, national, and international communities.
INNOVATION - GDC embraces change for growth. We operate the organization by thoughtfully and fearlessly incorporating boldness, innovation, and occasional disruption. Our intention is to lead our field.
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THE IMPACT OF YOUR DONATIONS
Giordano Dance Chicago believes in community and making the arts accessible to all people no matter their socioeconomic status. If you would like to learn more about our free ticket programs, scholarships, or other opportunities for underserved youth, please contact Cesar G. Salinas at cesarsalinas@giordanodance.org
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Giordano Dance Chicago provides at NO cost to the school a robust program integrating Science and Health with Dance in four under-resourced CPS schools, Willa Cather, Frederic Chopin, Bernhard Moos, & Richard Yates Elementary Schools. The program comprises 14 one hour dance classes taught to our students in four CPS schools. In each school, two dance classes per week are taught for seven weeks each during our residencies.
Giordano Dance Chicago believes in community and making the arts accessible to all people no matter their socioeconomic status. If you would like to learn more about our free ticket programs, scholarships, or other opportunities for underserved youth, please contact Caitlyn Ottenheimer at c@giordanodance.org
DEIA STATEMENT
Giordano Dance Chicago’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access are critical to our longevity, and we thus recognize that such efforts are ever-fluid and without end.
Giordano Dance Chicago celebrates the art form of American jazz dance in all its diversity and illuminates its evolution from African roots and traditions to its present incarnation as complex, vibrant, and multi-veined.
In recognizing its own complicated history of cultural integration, Giordano Dance Chicago endeavors in all current and future efforts to unify individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability status, or socioeconomic status.
We are committed to creating welcoming environments through the equitable treatment of and opportunity for all people. We are committed to the self-reflective processes required to ensure inclusion remains readily manifest in our policies, practices, programs, and procedures. Finally, we are committed to disrupting those barriers which prevent equal access to the beauty and power of jazz dance, whether that be physical, financial, or other.