A production of The Seldoms with Finom

The performance runs approximately one hour without intermission

Special thanks to the original cast of Superbloom for movement generation and inspiration: Gabriela Chavez, Damon D. Green, Haley Marcin, Timothy Tsang, Maggie Vannucci

Superbloom at ART on THE MART, now through September 7
You can see a very different version of Superbloom projected on this architectural landmark in downtown Chicago! Watch from the Riverwalk and see it come to life on one of the world’s largest digital platforms. Superbloom will be projected Thursday through Sunday nights at 9 p.m. through September 7, 2025.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

The Seldoms
In its 23rd season, Chicago-based dance company The Seldoms creates multimedia performance charged by bold, exacting physicality and the belief that dance can inspire thinking about broader issues. Under the direction of choreographer Carrie Hanson, the company designs expansive productions with practitioners of visual arts, theater, sound, and fashion. Projects are fueled by an appetite for research and incubated with partners from fields such as history and science. Making works on topics such as climate change, plastic pollution and landfills, the 2008 recession, and power and powerlessness in America, they have built a reputation for “well-crafted and researched works that don’t hold forth a political agenda, but look instead at how these towering issues reflect back on our own humanity” (Newcity).  

Founded in 2002, The Seldoms has performed in 20 United States cities and developed international connections, touring in Russia, Canada, Taiwan, and Scotland—where they exchanged with Fraser Taylor and other Glasgow visual artists to create Toolbox, a sourcebook for makers. Their exhibit at the Hyde Park Art Center, Toolbox At Twenty, was named a “Best Chicago Art Exhibit” for 2022 by the Chicago Tribune. Their 2015 work, Power Goes—about the legacy of Lyndon Baines Johnson—was commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, received a NEFA National Dance Project Award, and toured to nine U.S. venues, engaging a community cast in each city. Locally, the company has performed at venues including the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Museum of Contemporary Art, Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater, and the Art Institute of Chicago. The Seldoms has also designed performance works for sites including a truck garage, an outdoor pool, the Morton Arboretum, and a Chicago Landmark park fieldhouse. During the pandemic shutdown, they launched Sidewalk Dances, bringing social-distanced micro-performances to residential sidewalks and other locations. In 2022, their projection work about climate change, Floe, was commissioned by ART on THE MART, and their second commission from AoTM, Superbloom, is currently running through September 7. Our home studio is Visceral Dance Center, where we host weekly Open Company Classes and develop new projects. The company is dedicated to using performance as a platform for dialogue and collective inspiration. Learn more at theseldoms.org.

Carrie Hanson (founding artistic director / executive director) is a choreographer, producer, and educator. Since founding The Seldoms in 2002, Hanson has built a reputation for ambitious projects that press dance to speak to urgent social issues. She assembles practitioners of visual arts, theater, music, fashion, and architecture to create visually rich, intellectually muscular productions. Hanson was Chicago Tribune’s 2015 “Chicagoan of the Year in Dance,” honored for her “political, issue-oriented dance theater” and “brawny, brainy movement.” Her favorite project, Power Goes, about Lyndon Baines Johnson, toured to nine U.S. venues, where she led a workshop about civil rights with a diverse community cast in each city. Her dance in a pool, GIANT FIX (2005) was named one of the “best dance moments of the past decade” by TimeOut. Hanson has been commissioned by, among others, the Museum of Contemporary Art, ART on THE MART, Ragdale, Texas Performing Arts, and the National Theater of Mannheim, Germany. Hanson has received two Illinois Arts Council Fellowships, a Ruth Page Award, and a Chicago Dancemaker’s Forum Lab Artist Gran. She was a 2015 resident at the National Center for Choreography Akron, a 2019 Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence at UW-Madison, and a 2021 ACE Fellow at Trillium Arts (North Carolina).  She holds a B.F.A. in modern dance from Texas Christian University and an M.A. from Trinity Laban in London.

Damon D. Green (associate director) is a Chicago-based dance artist and founder of TEXTUREDance Studio, an Urban Styles and Forms dance and wellness facility. It is here that Green shares his passion for movement education. He is an avid Vogue aesthetic practitioner. Green continues to collaborate and perform with choreographers and other artists across the nation as well as locally, including Paige Cunningham-Calderella, Darrell Jones, J'sun Howard, Philip Elson, Kristina Isabelle, Cecil Johnson Jr., Lional Freeman, Jane Beachy, Mauren Sledge (House of Avant-Garde), Bob Eisen, Molly Shanahan, Shea Coulee, Sadie Woods, Faheem Majeed, Nikki Lynette, Jacinda Rackliff, Solomon Bowser, Bernard Brown, Tuli Bera, and Tim Buckley. Green is currently teaching at Visceral Dance Center and has hosted workshops and master classes throughout the Chicago area as well as abroad. Damon joined The Seldoms in 2007, and has contributed to nineteen major projects.

PERFORMERS

Laren Chang is a performing artist originating from Saint Paul, Minnesota. In 2021, she graduated with honors from the University of Iowa where she earned a B.F.A. in dance. Immediately following her bachelor’s degree, she completed a post-graduate program with Copenhagen Contemporary Dance School while also training extensively in Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam. After her time abroad, she was a founding member of the CULTIVATE program with TU Dance and also performed in their Three Women Project that featured works by Stephanie Batten Bland, Yusha Marie Sorzano, and Alanna Morris. Since moving to Chicago, she has been a company member with Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater, where she performed works by Shannon Alvis, Katlin Bourgeois, and Monique Haley. laren-chang.squarespace.com

Damon D. Green (see above)

Haley Marcin is a Chicago-based artist, performer, and educator. In 2019, she graduated summa cum laude from The University of North Carolina Greensboro with a B.F.A. in dance. Haley then had the opportunity to train intensively and perform in Calabria, Italy, on a full tuition scholarship. Upon graduating, Haley apprenticed with the Michael Mao Dance Company in New York. She returned to Chicago and since has performed with Aerial Dance Chicago, Project Bound Dance, Still Inspired, and collaborated with many Chicago choreographers. This is her third season dancing for The Seldoms, where she also leads company training.

Rachel Newton grew up in Frankfort, Illinois. She studied dance at Salt Creek Ballet under Sergey Kozadayev and Eddy Ocampo, where she performed in many classical ballets and danced principal roles in The Nutcracker, Flower Festival in Genzano, and Alice in Wonderland. In 2024, Rachel graduated summa cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. program with degrees in both dance and digital technology/emerging media. She has had the privilege to perform in works by Alexander Anderson, Helen Simmoneau, Ethan Colangelo, Mark Caserta, Earl Mosley, Levi Marsman, Brice Mousset, and Winston Dynamite Brown. Additionally, Rachel has spent summers with Visceral Dance Chicago, Common Conservatory, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago. She is thrilled to be dancing in Chicago with The Seldoms (Carrie Hanson) and LEVEL Dance (Eddy Ocampo & Brandon DiCriscio)!

Dillon Zamora started training in dance at the age of 13, at his home studio in California in the Cecchetti Ballet method, contemporary, and hip hop. He later studied at the University of California Irvine, where he earned two B.F.A.s for dance choreography and dance performance. While at UCI, Dillon performed in works by Lar Lubovitch and Vitor Luiz DeSantos. Dillon was a trainee with Visceral Dance Chicago and worked with Braeden Barnes, Tina Diaz, and Cait Cucchiarra. He has also had the opportunity to work with renowned choreographers such as Ethan Colangelo, Nicole Von Arx, Alex Ketley, and Nicole Hennington. Dillon currently also dances for Winifred Haun and Dancers.

COLLABORATORS

Julie E. Ballard (lighting design, technical direction, stage management)
Julie E. Ballard, USA829, is a professional lighting designer, ETCP-certified electrician, and theatrical technician. She is affiliated with IATSE Local 2 and the Actors’ Equity Association. Additionally, Ms. Ballard is the owner/operator of OverlapLighting Productions, LLC, a freelance production company specializing in lighting design, production/stage management, and photography. She has designed for the Charlotte Ballet, Ballet West, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She has freelanced for two decades in and around the Midwest, touring regionally, nationally, and internationally with Hubbard Street, Pilobolus, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, The Seldoms, and David Dorfman Dance, among others. Theatre audiences have seen her designs in the United States, across Europe, Siberia, and South Africa. Ms. Ballard holds degrees in theater (B.A., 1999) and lighting design (M.F.A., 2004) from Kent State University and the University of Florida, respectively. Visit her portfolio at overlaplighting.com

Finom (music)
Finom (fka Ohmme) is a Chicago-based art-rock band formed by principal songwriters/composers, Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart. Finom formed in 2014 as an outlet to explore an unconventional and experimental approach to the guitar and vocal harmony. Since their inception, they have released two adventurous full-length albums: Parts (2018) and Fantasize Your Ghost (2020) with Joyful Noise Recordings. They have collaborated twice with choreographer Robyn Mineko Williams—in 2021 for the Hubbard Street piece Half of Us and in 2022 with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, composing a new work for a 50-piece orchestra titled Before I Was. They both tour, record, and produce extensively as solo musicians and in collaboration with many celebrated artists internationally.

Matt Caroll (percussion)
Matt Carroll is a Chicago-bred drummer, producer, and music educator based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Balancing between the worlds of jazz, electronic, and rock, Matt has had the opportunity to perform and record with Finom, V.V. Lightbody, Resavoir, and Courtney Marie Andrews. He’s appeared on stage at Pitchfork Music Festival, Ryman Auditorium, NPR‘s “Tiny Desk,” Chicago Jazz Festival, Summerfest, and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, among others. Matt’s broad, joyfully open, and inquisitive spirit continues to expand his vision beyond geographic and genre boundaries, enhancing his versatility, and enabling him to convey his passion to audiences the world over. He is currently producing his own music as SloGlo.

Jackie Kazarian (visual design)
Jackie Kazarian’s vibrant paintings exist at the intersection of landscape, abstraction, and perception. She draws from a variety of materials and techniques, including painting, screen printing, textile dyeing, and flocking, and thinks of her studio practice as a laboratory. Kazarian's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and is in many private and permanent collections, including the State of Illinois Art Museum, Rockford Art Museum, DePaul University Art Collection, and the United States Embassy in Armenia. Kazarian has served as an art envoy for the U.S. State Department in Syria (2011) and Kuwait (2017) and taught painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) for more than a decade. She received an M.F.A. from SAIC and a B.S. from Duke University. This is her fifth collaboration with The Seldoms.

Liviu Pasare (animation / projection design)
Liviu Pasare has a Chicago-based practice creating immersive and interactive experiences using new media and technology. He works as a projection designer, cinematographer, editor, animator, and has produced, directed, and performed for live multimedia experiences. He has been affiliated with theaters and artists including Luftwerk, Nick Cave, Bob Faust, Collaboraction, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Adventure Stage, Manual Cinema, Blue Man Group, Lucky Plush, The Seldoms, Claudia Hart, Federico Solmi and many more. For more info, visit liviu.stoptime.live

Kevin Rechner (lighting design, technical direction, stage management)  
Kevin Rechner has worn many hats for many Chicago, national, and international dance artists including The Seldoms and Lucky Plush Productions. Recently, he has begun lighting musical theatre productions for The Young People’s Theatre of Chicago. Kevin has a bachelor’s degree in theatre from Illinois State University, spent three years in Paris, France, studying with Jacques Lecoq and Daniel Stein, and was production manager and technical director for the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago from 1996 to 2024. He is pursuing multiple artistic endeavors including creative writing and light sculpture and hopes to promote his work on social media and launch a website sometime in the near future.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Seldoms thank the Chicago Botanic Garden for presenting Superbloom and its staff for their dedicated, imaginative support in bringing the work in its full theatrical form.  

Our creative process for Superbloom included two weeklong development residencies in stunning locations: our 2021 Trillium Arts residency in the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina, and our 2022 residency at Door Kinetic Arts Festival in Bailey’s Harbor, Wisconsin.

Superbloom was made with support from the MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C. Farley, Jr. Family Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Saints Foundation, the Cliff Dweller's Foundation, the Dorothy Fund, the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and a faculty development grant from Columbia College Chicago.  Major support for the Superbloom premiere came from Elizabeth Liebman, Don and Ann Beeson, Pam Crutchfield, Ginger Farley and Bob Shapiro, and Dawn Romei.

Photos
Photos of The Seldoms by Andrew Glatt
Photos of Superbloom premiere by William Frederking

SUPPORT

Individual donations are more crucial and appreciated than ever, and still tax-deductible. Your generosity helps us create performances that excite audiences, innovate with acclaimed artists, keep tickets affordable, and keep Chicago dancers dancing. theseldoms.org/donate

CONTACT

Questions? 
Contact us at Click here to show mail address 

Where to find us: 
The Seldoms is in residency at Visceral Dance Center

Mailing address: 
c/o Visceral Dance Center 
3121 N. Rockwell 
Chicago IL 60618