October 29, 2020
Picture This Post recommends America / Americans - " a welcome return to quality choreography, score, and lighting"
"America / Americans is recommended to anyone looking for a thoughtful, beautiful, and emotional meditation on the state of the world today, as well as the more general nature of human society."
October 26, 2020
See Chicago Dance raves - America / Americans is "valiant, life affirming"
"Effective focus in all of these works is on the drama of life’s contradictions, conflicts and obstacles, as expressed through the alternating anguish of limbs at odds with each other, the push/pull of conflicting desires with the flowing exultations of expansive suspensions, luscious arching spines and crushing dives."
October 16, 2020
Sharon Hoyer interviews Wilfredo Rivera about making art in 2020
SHARON HOYER : ... something I really appreciate about the subjects that you engage with. You know, you’re addressing some of the most pressing and most difficult issues of the time. And they’re problems that can often feel really disheartening or at the very least draining, as you say.
...One thing I really appreciate is that while you don’t look away from those, those issues, there’s always a spirit of engaging them with joy, with the idea that you’re gonna spread joy. And that’s, it’s just a lovely thing."
September 22, 2020
Interview with Cofounder and Artistic Director Wilfredo Rivera
Wilfredo discusses the history and work of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre with Tommy Hensel, Director of the Fine and Performing Art Center at Moraine Valley Community College - including the 2016-2019 suite American Catracho.
September 12, 2020
Auditorium Theatre presents Cerqua Rivera - from home
"Although the Auditorium Theatre community can't be together in person at the moment, the theatre's Board and staff are still devoted to connecting with Chicago and beyond. Through At Home With the Auditorium, viewers see performers in action from their own homes and studios."
July 23, 2020
NewCity Stage - Creative Dilemmas: Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre Adapts 2020 Season for the Pandemic
"It’s historic times and it calls for bravery, leadership and strong decision making. As everything around us is coming apart, we as civic-minded artists have something to show about these times. Being quiet was not an option."
October 09, 2019
WTTW - "It’s Time to Declare a ‘Year of Chicago Dance’"
"Created and directed by Wilfredo Cerqua (with additional choreography by Noelle Kayser and Christian Denice), and featuring a stunning score by Joe Cerqua superbly performed by the nine-piece Cerqua Rivera Jazz Band, [American Catracho] is an elaborate, richly evocative, at moments sharply satirical evocation of the many stages in the process of immigration."
October 07, 2019
Splash Magazine - "a remarkable one-night-only program of cultural exploration"
"The strong, individualistic and very human modern dance is touching in the extreme as it reveals the layers of human drama experienced by those seeking to escape, hoping for succor, and finding peril and frustration along the way. "
October 05, 2019
See Chicago Dance - "One compelling night of dance"
"In a dynamic split-bill performance that received two standing ovations Friday, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (CRDT) and Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater captivated a robust Auditorium Theatre audience with an investigation and celebration of immigration and the cultures who have established homes in the United States. "
October 02, 2019
Picture this Post - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
"CRDT exceeds our expectations as stunning lighting guides us through the story of Wilfredo Rivera’s American Catracho, a slang word for a person from Honduras. Rivera examines memory, struggle, identity, perception and assimilating to society in this four part journey through immigrating to this country. This show exposes the elements that connect us all as humans, a story of humanity."
September 30, 2019
Chicago Magazine - "Things to Do in Chicago in October"
"Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre kicks off its 20th season with a performance broadly confronting the current animus toward Latin American migrants, material mined from founding artistic director Wilfredo Rivera’s personal story as a Honduran immigrant."
September 28, 2019
Chicago Tribune reviews American Catracho
"I have previously admired each of these sections individually; how wholly gratifying it is to see them woven together for the first time."
"It is, by far, Cerqua’s best and most comprehensive composition for this company, orchestrated beautifully"
September 26, 2019
The Daily Northwestern - "Three years in the making, “American Catracho” explores immigration, culture and heritage through the lens of Latin music and dance."
“Their choreography makes you think about the subject matters they’re presenting, but you’re never left with a feeling of despair,” Rashid said. “You’re always left with a feeling of hopefulness in the future.”
September 25, 2019
Dancermusic.com - "Wilfredo did a wonderful job at pairing us together and I am very grateful. He has a knack for that, I think!"
"concert dance... gives all involved and all observing the chance to learn something more about themselves, something deeper and potentially more profound than you could have ever learned on your own or through any other avenue other than dance"
September 18, 2019
Shoutbox podcast - Interview with Wilfredo Rivera
"On today's show we talk to Wilfredo Rivera, choreographer and co-founder of Chicago's Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, as he shares his personal story of immigrating to the United States from his native Honduras, and how his own experiences and insights into the immigration and refugee crisis inspired the epic evening length dance performance called "American Catracho"."
September 20, 2019
Dancermusic.com "Their current company of dancers is extraordinary, and the ...musicians have continuously expanded the horizons of what they can bring to an audience."
"Then all of a sudden, or so it seems, everybody sees something that changes the way they see everything else.
Naturally, people love to be there when that happens. and even when they’re not, a lot of people like to remember that they were. ...and if you like the idea of being part of one of those moments, you might want to find some tickets for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre’s 20th Anniversary Concert Series."
September 18, 2019
New City Stage "This is What America Looks Like: Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre digs deep into identity and the immigrant experience"
"Wilfredo Rivera is co-founder and the dance half of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, a company that for twenty years has been staging an original, abstract brand of musical theater that puts equal importance on choreography, original jazz compositions and visual art. Rivera talked with us about the company’s highly timely “America/Americans” series of concerts"
September 13, 2019
Dancermusic profiles choreographer Monique Haley
"Now celebrating its 20th anniversary season, the musicians, dancers, choreographers and designers that Co-Founders Wilfredo Rivera and Joe Cerqua have brought together conjure an ever-churning sea of creativity that produces some of the very best concert dance Chicago has to offer."
July 24, 2019
Cerqua Rivera honored with grant for music education
The DeKalb County Community Foundation awarded $129,450 in spring Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund grants. A total of 29 nonprofits and community organizations across the greater Chicago area will receive grant support for music education.
June 25, 2019
Cerqua Rivera one of headliners for 2019 SummerDance Celebration in Millennium Park
"Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Joel Hall Dancers and Rated ‘E’ Chicago Dance Crew, four of Chicago’s most popular and acclaimed dance companies will present signature works on the main stage at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion."
June 25, 2019
Cerqua Rivera one of July dance highlights from See Chicago Dance
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre continues its popular Inside/Out, an in-progress showing and discussion series which has, since originating a few years ago, deepened the company’s work and unveiled its choreographic process
January 20, 2019
20th Anniversary Sneak Peak - Dancermusic.com
"Despite the challenges of building and maintaining an audience, procuring funding, and pushing the boundaries of both music and dance, CRDT has nourished the creative talents of dancers, choreographers, musicians, composers, visual artists, and countless others to create opportunities to share their vision and use art as a vehicle to create a stronger, more understanding community."
October 22, 2018
The company has never looked better - See Chicago Dance reviews 2018 fall concerts
"The sheer effervescence of the whole carries the evening of four choreographic works and two instrumental interludes. The handsome company, ten dancers and nine musicians strong, burst into Links Hall’s black box space this past Saturday night with plenty of personality and polish. The ensemble sparkled with luscious dancing and richly orchestrated music"
October 03, 2018
My Past / Our Present - fall concert preview
"CRDT is known not only for its high caliber dance and choreography but is equally recognized for its ensemble of musicians (whose credentials include international tours and album releases with Motown). Better yet, musicians in the ensemble regularly collaborate with the dance makers at CRDT to provide lush, original compositions – a component essential to the magic that appears on stage."
September 06, 2019
CRDT Fall Concert Series one of the Trib's top dance picks for fall
"Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre again embarks on a “Chicago tour,” visiting three venues between Hyde Park and Evanston. The evening includes the final section of director Wilfredo Rivera’s evening-length “American Contracho,” based on his experiences as an immigrant to the United States from Honduras, and easily his most promising work"
September 15, 2019
Dancermusic previews the final Inside/Out of 2018
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater has been on a relentless build-up to their 2018 Fall Concert Series since last April. It’s something they’ve been doing for years, a very carefully planned series of monthly presentations — they call them Inside / Out — that bring their audience, their performers, and the creators of their upcoming works together. The settings are informal but the results always informative, an engaging blend of discussion and performance.
August 15, 2018
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre returns to Dance for Life after 21 years
When we performed with Dance for Life in 1997, the concert was at Navy Pier's Skyline Stage, and Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre wasn't even a real nonprofit yet. Check out this preview of Saturday's performance, when we return to Dance for Life, now at the Auditorum Theatre
July 29, 2018
Review of July 2018 Inside/Out with Monique Haley and Joe Cerqua
In the work in progress, the dancers express their individuality through the choreography, putting their own personalities on Haley’s movements. Haley’s choreography feels primal and sensual, movements such as shaking of the hands and explosive jumps come from deep within the dancers soul.
May 02, 2018
Cerqua Rivera selected to perform in Dance for Life 2018
"For its 27th annual event, Dance for Life Chicago presents a diverse group of companies and artists performing August 18 at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University ... Joining the Partner Dance Companies that perform each year... are ... Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre"
April 26, 2018
Cerqua Rivera affirms off-loop concert dance's place in #chidance - Art Intercepts
"in recent years the group has asserted itself in the contemporary dance scene. Their efforts to expand have not gone unnoticed. In addition to embarking on a period of tremendous growth which saw this company performing an extended run in three venues for last season’s fall concert, the production values are higher and the dancing and choreography is better; last season even brought a commission from the Chicago Sinfonietta."
October 16, 2017
Dancer Music previews the finale of Alone/Together
"'Was that part really good?', just ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Here goes — The choreography? Yes. The musicianship? Yes. The performances by the Cerqua Rivera dancers in an amazing range of movement designs? Yes. The flow of the entire show? Yes. The individuality of each intensely committed performance by a stage full of constantly interacting artists? Oh yeah."
October 09, 2017
Dancer Music previews Alone/Together at Studio5
"When Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre brings their very successful fall concert Alone / Together to Studio5 on Friday, October 13, you’ll be seeing layer upon layer of creativity. That’s because one of the most imaginative dance companies you can go see, Cerqua Rivera, will be performing in one of the most imaginatively designed venues in Metro Chicago."
September 20, 2016
Cerqua Rivera Dance's fall works got a little extra breathing room - Chicago Tribune
"Artistically, Rivera says, the lengthy, provisional 'Inside/Out' process 'is allowing us to let the art really breathe, and to have conversations with the audience that otherwise we just would not be able to do.'"