Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak's "Ex/Body: de/fame, de/position, de/liberate"

Newcity Stage DECEMBER DANCE TOP 5!

"This concentrated, unflagging curiosity about vulnerability in both performers and their audiences is a hallmark of Shanahan’s choreography and movement language, one she has developed over decades. Her approach is so distinctive that it now bears a registered trademark..." Read Sharon Hoyer's full feature here.

Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak presents
Ex/Body: de/fame, de/position, de/liberate
December 19–21, 2025 at 7:30 PM | The Edge Theater, Chicago

Content advisory: This performance contains references to trauma, sexual assault, and legal proceedings.

Join Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak for the world premiere of Ex/Body: de/fame, de/position, de/liberate, the culminating work in the company’s multi-year Ex/Body project.

This new 50-minute piece marks the third full-length work in the critically-acclaimed company's Ex/Body series. Together, the performers dive into urgent questions of how bodies absorb and resist distortion—social, institutional, and personal—while negotiating vulnerability, resilience, and radical presence alone and with others. Shanahan says of the work: "This dance is born of necessity, and of confronting what it means to speak up in environments that feed on silence, fear, and conformity.”

Performed by Shanahan and longtime ensemble members Kristina Fluty, Jeff Hancock, Diana Stewart, Maria DiMarzio, and Jaicee Partridge.

"If the body of a dancer is not the thing perceived in a dance performance, then what is? You’ll have to attend a Mad Shak show to experience it. It is unnamed, and comprised of the circulation of energy and the power of attention. Some of the bravest experimental performers attempt to conjure it, but few summon it in performance space as successfully as Shanahan and Mad Shak." Sharon Hoyer, New City Chicago

Performance Details
📅 December 19–21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
📍 The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway, Chicago
🎟️ Tickets: $35 General | $25.00 Student/Senior | $50 Contributor