Some in the dance community call Jonathan “Jojo” Alsberry the “Kevin Bacon of dance.” There’s a theory that Kevin Bacon can be linked to any actor, to some degree, in Hollywood through his many films. In the dance world, Alsberry’s impressive resume links him to the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City, where he was a solo dancer, and to Chicago’s Hubbard Street Dance; to the dance troupes for touring musicians Madonna and Cat Power, and to the online dance company Kontemporary Dance Theater, which he created.
Now Alsberry, who is senior rehearsal director at Hubbard Street, gets a major Chicago showcase: the job of choreographing the finale for the 2024 Dance for Life, an annual performance and benefit event that features a who’s who of local Chicago dance companies. For three decades, choreographer Randy Duncan has had the honor. This year, he recommended his former student, Alsberry, for the job.
Alsberry sat down with WBEZ’s “The Rundown” podcast to talk about his process for choreographing and about Dance For Life, which raises money for the nonprofit Chicago Dance Health Fund and helps support dancers’ health care and medical needs. Q. How did you learn about the Health Fund and Dance for Life? A: So my connection is directly through Randy Duncan.
I’m actually from [Normal, Illinois]. I moved to Chicago to go to Chicago Academy for the Arts, where Randy Duncan, at the time, was teaching jazz and modern. When I went to high school there, o.