History

Molly Shanahan / Mad Shak supports innovation and collaboration though the development and presentation of dance performances and other programs that engage the public in a deeper understanding and appreciation of the creative process.

Partnerships and cross-disciplinary collaborations enrich Molly Shanahan / Mad Shak’s creative process and public presentation, including live performance, creative approaches to written and video/film documentation, community workshops and classes, and public discussion. Molly Shanahan / Mad Shak’s core values stem from the belief that within the nonverbal transaction of creation and performance, communities are formed.

In the company’s 14-year history, Molly Shanahan / Mad Shak has premiered over 46 original works by Artistic Director Molly Shanahan ranging from large ensemble pieces involving multiple collaborators to solos and duets through both touring and Chicago presentations.

Molly Shanahan / Mad Shak stands alone in Chicago dance for its commitment to original music, and from 1994-2005 Shanahan collaborated exclusively with the company’s then composer-in-residence Kevin O’Donnell on the creation of original sound for all new work. This commitment is currently expanding to include new collaborations with Chicago composers.

Molly Shanahan / Mad Shak’s creative achievements are increasingly recognized across the field of contemporary dance, evidenced by critical and audience response and by organizations like Links Hall (Chicago) and the National Performance Network, among others, that have endorsed and supported Shanahan’s work. Molly Shanahan / Mad Shak’s work has been performed in Chicago at The Dance Center of Columbia College, Links Hall, Storefront Theater, and others. Outside Chicago, Mad Shak has performed at Dance Theater Workshop, Tangente (Montreal), and as a featured artist at the National Performance Annual Meeting in Miami in 2005, among others. In 2004 Mad Shak was the recipient of the Chicago Dance and Music Alliance’s Elizabeth F. Cheney Dance Achievement Award, citing Shanahan’s evening-length projects So-Called Repetition, The Poems of Replaceable Kings, and Eye Cycle as exemplary instances of impact on the field and promise for continued innovation. Following a rigorous selection process, Shanahan was named one of four choreographers selected as a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist for 2006/07. She was named by Time Out Chicago as one of the “20 People to Watch in 2007” and most recently received an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award in choreography in 2008.