Tending to the Mother in Me
Berger Park Cultural Center
6205 N Sheridan Road, Chicago IL
Workshops RSVP
Friday, May 23 from 6 PM to 8:30 PM
Saturday, June 7 from 1 PM to 3:30 PM
You are welcome to attend one day, or both!
Tending to the Mother in Me is a reflection on the labor of caregiving in all its forms through guided movement and play. Facilitated by Christine Shallenberg and Aurora Tabar with live music by Jess Baldissero.
These workshops explore the complex nature of caregiving through movement, meditation, improvisation, and writing. They are open to folks of all backgrounds and experiences who tend to the needs of others including parents, teachers, elder workers, personal care assistants, domestic workers, community organizers, therapists, social workers, gardeners, medical professionals, and beyond. We join together to uncover how we, as caregivers and caretakers, can nurture our own well being. Through collective embodied investigation, we consider how radical love and care for others might be a road map for a more just, inclusive and interconnected world. Join us as we move, breathe, and play together. We need this now and we wonder if you do, too.
Free but space is limited – Please reserve your spot here. Childcare provided. No dance experience necessary.
Classes take place in the Berger Park Ball Room on the third floor of the main building. The studio has a Marley dance floor over wood planks, natural and artificial lighting, and window air conditioning. We regret that the studio is not fully accessible – participants must move up two sets of stairs to access the space.
Christine Shallenberg is a teaching artist and mom. Her work ranges in mode from electronic textiles to light and sound installations to participatory choreographies for audiences (and sometimes her child). Her long-time collaboration with Jenn Cooper, JCSpaceRadio, engaged in a casually critical dialogue with frequencies through workshops, performances and interactive installations. Her work has been seen at Links Hall, High Concept Laboratories, Experimental Sound Studio, Hume Gallery, Tritriangle and No Nation in Chicago, as well as Movement Research, Galapagos Art Center, Williamsburg Arts Nexus, and Triskelion Arts in NYC. She also worked as the Lighting Designer for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for whom she designed Second Hand, Antic Meet, Nearly 902 and more than 30 unique Event performances seen around the world. She continues to design for performance with Every house has a door. More info at christineshallenberg.com.
Aurora Tabar is a Chicago-based performance artist, occupational therapist, and multi-tasking mom. She creates live performances and public actions that meld contemporary dance forms with research, storytelling, and audience participation. She wonders how the experience of live art can be a catalyst for healing. From 2018-2020 she facilitated The Existential Coat Check, an interactive popup booth that invited participants to shed their psychic baggage via writing and drawing activities at venues across the midwest. Her last evening length performance, Tiny Vibrating Strings, explored the life of Mileva Maric, Einstein’s first wife, whose contributions to the field of theoretical physics were overshadowed by her domineering spouse. Aurora has presented solo and collaborative performances in Chicago at Links Hall, Elastic Arts, High Concept Laboratories, Prop Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, and Roman Susan Gallery, and nationally at Movement Research (NY). More info at auroratabar.com.
Jess Baldissero is a seasoned multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, improviser and mother based in Chicago, IL. Whether supporting other artists as a side player on tour, arranging and producing recorded work for artists around the country, writing scores for live theater and art installations, or self-releasing original work with her songwriting project, Joybird, her impact is authentic and dynamic, elevating any project she has a hand in. With a background in social work and a passion for teaching youth, Jess is deeply inspired by communal, connection-centered art. This has led her toward making music as a therapeutic tool, fiddling for social dance and community events, and nearly a decade teaching at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk music before founding her own private teaching studio, Heart Strings Chicago. Jess’s playing has been featured on NPR, XRT, and the BBC, among other local and national broadcasts, and she can be seen touring currently with experimental blues artist, Buffalo Nichols (Austin, TX), or daytimes frequenting most any playground on the northwest side of Chicago with her precious two-year-old daughter. More at @jess__baldissero.
These workshops are being shared at Berger Park Cultural Center as part of Movement Studies – a programming series investigating social and environmental transitions.