42: Dance is your Birthright — John Schmitz

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week on 5.6.7.EIGHT, Aleksandra speaks with John Schmitz, Co-Founder and Artistic Producer of</span> <a href="https://dancechicago.com/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Dance Chicago</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. John — a decades-long arts icon within the Chicago arts community — has been producing dance events for 35 years, helping build bridges between artists and dance organizations both domestically and internationally. He has also been the recipient of</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Chicago Tribune</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">’s “Chicagoan of the Year” award, a Ruth Page Award for “Outstanding Contribution to the Dance Community,” and several others. Schmitz also serves as President of the Board of Athenaeum Theatre Productions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">John’s driving force in all he does is the belief that dance can drive emotional transformation, and as he mentions on the podcast, he hopes that performance attendees will have a brighter outlook on life as they leave the theater than when they first arrived. On the podcast, John spends time describing how his dance festival carries that sole mission — to improve others’ lives through dance — and explains how his own life has been captivated and improved by that very same craft.</span></p> <p><br /> <br /></p> <p><strong>Moving Quotes:</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Dance is your birthright. You were born to move. And if you can only move one finger, this is a dance."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You have to close one door before another one opens."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[On being entrepreneurial in the dance industry] “I was used to seeing miracles in dance — I started dancing at the age of 30. It was all so crazy anyway, so why not try? And the doors kept opening."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> “We want people feeling better about their lives when they leave the theater than w