Halloween Creepy Crawlies

There are relatively few family friendly dance productions that explore the creepy and sweet seeking (quite a juxtaposition) nature of Halloween. Halloween Creepy Crawlies while using the classic Halloween archetypes, also introduces audiences to different dance genres such as ballet, jazz and modern. Within the storyline the main character Mallory (a ghost trying to get back to her haunted house) encounters ballerina witches, jazzy vampires, and modern dancing mummies. To help tell the story to audiences, different illustrations are projected in the background throughout the production. This project is partially supported by an Individual Artists Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events as well as being a part of the Dovetail Studios 16×2 performance program. Performances are on October 12^th at 2pm and October 13^th at 3pm at the Garage at Dovetail Studios.

Our story starts when Mallory (a ghost) awakes on Halloween Eve to find that she has been removed from her haunted house! After figuring out how to move her various limbs again (or lack thereof), she runs into Jake. This twirling and bouncing Jack O Lantern directs her to talk to the mysterious ballerina witches of the Foggy Forest. Jake gives Mallory a map to find the Foggy Forest and hopefully to meet the ballerina witches for their advice. The witches take her to their Cauldron of Truth where Mallory is told that she will have to help the jazzy vampires and modern dancing mummies make amends for the Cauldron to help her. When Mallory and Jake make their way to CCL, they find the jazzy vampires and modern dancing mummies in a fierce candy stealing war. She and Jake convince them that if they share all their entire candy stash, everyone will end up with enough candy. Back at the Foggy Forest, the Cauldron produces a map back to Mallory’s haunted house. The production ends with Mallory waving from the stoop of her haunted house with Jake handing out candy to the Halloween Trick or Treaters.

This production was created by Mariah Eastman, artistic director of Darvin Dances, a Chicago based modern/contemporary dance company. Along with six professional dancers, there are two young dancers from the Chicago community participating in this production (dancers are based at Dovetail Studios and Dance on Broadway). The choreography was created by Mariah Eastman with Alicia Wilson choreographing for the young dancers. Illustrations were created by Nat Thomas (https://natthomas.work/work) with lighting design by Richard Norwood.