Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

DANCIN' FEATS Catching up with Zachary Whittenburg
by Lauren Warnecke
2014-06-11

This article shared 6806 times since Wed Jun 11, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Dancer, choreographer, writer and former Windy City Times dance columnist Zachary Whittenburg, 34, now finds his daily grind on Jackson Boulevard in the offices of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago ( HSDC ).

Whittenburg finished his second season as master of communications at HSDC recently, after nearly a decade of hustling in dance journalism and freelance gigs. One of those gigs was as the go-to guy for dance coverage during his tenure as dance editor at Time Out Chicago from 2009-2012, a position that was terminated when Time Out moved exclusively online.

Whittenburg—an accomplished performer with credits at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Crystal Pite's Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal and HSDC—edged himself out of the dance-journalism market before it edged him out; he edged himself out of the dance-journalism market before it edged him out; he left Time Out and spent the summer of 2012 back hustling, picking up coveted spots in Pointe Magazine, Critical Correspondence and a cover story on Paris Opera Ballet in Dance International. He was even published in Hoy Chicago, a Spanish news publication, with a piece on photography.

He spent the first few months after leaving Time Out attempting a sustainable living in freelance dance writing, not fully knowing whether it was possible. "I felt like I had the experience that anyone else would have in the market, and it was either going to be possible, or not. … Things were happening, it's not like I was getting no work," he said in a dinner meeting with Windy City Times across the street from the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, where he would work the press table for opening night of HSDC's Summer Series that evening. "But it all didn't add up to what I needed to make ends meet, and also the pay cycle was so long. I didn't see payment for most of that work until I had been at Hubbard Street for months. ... In retrospect, who knows?! But I hit July/August, and remember thinking, 'I don't think this is possible.'"

Whittenburg now enjoys a life that has more balance. He's working more "normal" hours, and his CV of freelance-writing credits and speaking engagements continues to grow despite his full-time job. In the two years he's been at HSDC, Whittenburg has written a dozen freelance editorials ( mostly for Dance Magazine, Pointe and Dance Teacher ). He hosted an audience engagement series called "Dance, A Moving Canvas," and has a number of additional projects in the works. His former 80-90-hour work week consisted of five shows, two interviews and three reviews. "Now, my week is 40-45 hours at Hubbard Street, one dance show, a play, a concert, a dinner party, and a night watching Mad Men," he added. "There's a balance to my life now that's really satisfying. ... I loved that crazy pace, but there are a lot of things you have to give up to have that experience."

By sacrificing a bit of his bird's-eye view—and, with it, the knowledge of everyone and everything happening in Chicago's dance community—Whittenburg's still the go-to guy. However, he's a go-to guy who preserves a tiny bit of personal time, gets more sleep and enjoys a more sustainable lifestyle. "I'm not as moody as I was a couple years ago. I get more exercise. … I was the textbook cliche of a hunchbacked writer; the irony of that was not lost on me. I was giving to this devotion to dance and performance art, and my physical experience was a wreck. Part of the culture [at HSDC] is being healthy.

"At the end of the day … I want to advocate for the importance of dance as an art form, I want to help engage readers and the public about dance as an art form, and raise the level of familiarity so you can start to have those richer conversations. Whether I'm doing that at a dance company, or at a magazine, or at a newspaper, the important thing is that I feel like I'm doing that. That was the thinking behind moving forward … and it guides me with how I'm doing this job."

How he's doing his job appears to be working. The company's presence in the Chicago dance community and on social media is stronger than ever. Whittenburg works with the many compartments of Hubbard Street to present the whole picture to the press and public. In one moment he's scanning costume sketches and interviewing guest repetiteurs for upcoming engagements; in the next he's discussing adaptive dance programming for children with disabilities or setting up visits from So You Think You Can Dance's Nigel Lythgoe and the Dizzy Feet Foundation.

The stories he shares now are not dissimilar to stories you might see in print or online press publications, but there aren't enough personnel, energy, and resources left in dwindling arts journalism to cover such stories. "Ultimately, we all want the same thing," he said. "We all want more people in Chicago to care about dance; that's the goal. When I look back at the end of my workday, I don't feel any less impactful being the PR manager at Hubbard Street than I was as the dance editor at Time Out. ... That work won't go away, and I don't think I'm chipping away at it any more slowly than I was before. That's reinforced my decision to do what I'm doing."

As Whittenburg looks toward the future, he sees a long relationship with Hubbard Street, and a dance world that is bigger, richer and more diverse. Dance is pretty gay—it always has been—but Whittenburg speculates if a world more accepting of LGBTQ people in general will change the demographics of the dance community. If it becomes more "OK to be gay," will there be a shift away from dance and toward sports, or some other activity that queer people generally shy away from? If the demographic of dancers changes, how does the work created also change, and then how does the audience change? As society grows and perceptions widen, art, traditionally, imitates life.

"There's going to be more of everything," Whittenburg said. "There are more people, more audience members … nothing is going to turn down the volume, so there's going to be more dance, more dancers, more audience members. If you look at Hubbard Street, when we perform in March, we're up against 10 shows. In 10 years, we'll be up against 50, and that theater is not going to get any smaller. The plurality of voices, that's what's going to happen. You're just going to see more variety, and that's great! They say it's the spice of life."


This article shared 6806 times since Wed Jun 11, 2014
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Theater Review: Billy Elliot, The Musical 2024-02-19
- Book and Lyrics: Lee Hall; Music: Elton John. At: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora Tickets: 630-896-6666 or Paramountaurora.com; $28-$79. Runs through March 24 Billy Elliot: The Musical may nearly be two decades old, but ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

DANCE Choreographer Dwight Rhoden talks David Bowie, Alvin Ailey, queerness 2024-01-31
- In "STAR DUST: A Ballet Tribute to David Bowie," Complexions Contemporary Ballet co-founders Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson—backed by their Alvin Ailey lineage—and their dance troupe tackle many of the ...


Gay News

Chicago Dancers United and The Dancers' Fund become Chicago Dance Health Fund 2023-12-14
--From a press release - Chicago Dancers United, which has supported the health and wellness of Chicago's professional dance community through The Dancers' Fund for more than 30 years, announces that, effective January 1, 2024, the organization will operate and distribute ...


Gay News

DANCE 'Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker' running Dec. 20-30 2023-12-12
- Tony-winning producers David Garfinkle and Dr. Ron Simons announced the world-premiere of "Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker"—a holiday dream told in dance—which will play at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. ...


Gay News

MOVIES Rick Cosnett chats about 'Shoulder Dance,' Molly and Jason Momoa 2023-12-05
- In the new movie Shoulder Dance, which is out on streaming, friends Ira (played by out actor Matt Dallas, looking and sounding quite different than from his days on TV's Kyle XY) and Roger (played by ...


Gay News

DANCE Deeply Rooted performing Nov. 3 at the Auditorium Theatre 2023-09-27
- The Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr., is presenting Deeply Rooted Dance Theater—a Chicago-based contemporary dance company rooted in traditions of American and African-American dance—in a one-night-only performance ...


Gay News

Chicago Dancers United raises more than $365K at Dance for Life 2023-08-29
- Chicago Dancers United (CDU)—which supports the health and wellness of Chicago's professional dance community—welcomed 1,600 people to the 32nd annual Dance for Life on Aug. 19 at Auditorium Theatre, per ...


Gay News

Teen suspect arrested in killing of gay dancer 2023-08-05
- The New York Police Department arrested a suspect in the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old O'Shae Sibley, who was attacked last weekend at a Brooklyn gas station. According to The Advocate, Sibley, a professional dancer, had been ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Drag news, HIV-bias lawsuit, Disney, Brittney Griner, gay dancer 2023-08-04
- Swastika flag-toting neo-Nazis, some of them armed, were at a Wisconsin LGBTQ+ Pride celebration that included a drag show, The Advocate reported. Members of the neo-Nazi extremist group Blood Tribe joined other right-wing hate groups, like ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: Cattrall passive-aggressively returns just like that 2023-06-06
- "I kinda look like a 200-year-old pole dancer now! I don't think that's gonna happen, but thank you anyway." —Sylvester Stallone's response when Sherri Shepherd asks if he'll wear his tank top and booty shorts in ...


Gay News

ART on THE MART's summer programs include Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project, Pride celebration 2023-05-11
--From a press release - CHICAGO, IL — ART on THE MART, an innovative digital art project that transforms a Chicago architectural landmark into a larger-than-life canvas, will introduce two new commissions this summer. Building Light, a new projection by Gensler, ...


Gay News

South Chicago Dance Theatre to debut 'Memoirs of Jazz' on June 10 2023-05-09
--From a press release - (May 8, 2023) Through the 1960s and '70s, Jazz in the Alley on Chicago's South Side was a hotbed for jazz and a meeting place for some of the country's prominent musicians, visual artists, poets, activists, ...


Gay News

Artemis Singers presents June 10 "Better Times Will Come" Pride Concert and Dance 2023-05-03
--From a press release - CHICAGO─Artemis Singers, Chicago's lesbian feminist chorus, will present "Better Times Will Come" Pride Concert & Dance, Saturday, June 10, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave. ...


Gay News

Andersonville Midsommarfest to return June 9-11 in its 57th year 2023-04-30
--From a press release - CHICAGO (April 27, 2023) — The Andersonville Chamber of Commerce (ACC) is pleased to welcome summer with Andersonville Midsommarfest, one of Chicago's oldest and most beloved summer street festivals. Now in its 57th year, the ann ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.