Article by Shia Kapos
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It was a men’s tennis match that led celebrated actress and choreographer Ann Reinking to become an adviser to Thodos Dance Chicago.
The dance troupe raised $35,000 last weekend at its “Get Inspired Chicago” gala and performance, which included a work directed by Reinking. Known for her work in famed choreographer Bob Fosse’s “Dancin’ ” and “Chicago,” Reinking also is a friend ofMelissa Thodos, who founded the Chicago modern-dance group.
The two met about 20 years ago when Thodos was dating her now-husband, Rick Johnston, president of So-Oli, an affordable housing real estate firm. Reinking is married to Peter Talbert, a writer. The men were doubles partners in an amateur tennis tournament in Florida, and the two women got to know each other watching their partners play.
“We loved talking shop and talking dance. We’d sit courtside watching Rick and Peter play, our heads going back and forth. We found we really had a lot in common,” Thodos told me before the March 7 concert at the Harris Theater.
Thodos and Reinking have collaborated on a number of Chicago productions, and Thodos was invited to teach at the Broadway Theater Project, which Reinking co-founded on the campus of the University of South Florida.
For the March 7 celebration, Thodos Dance performed a piece that originated from dances that Fosse created for Ed Sullivan’s and Mike Douglas’ TV shows. Reinking restaged and directed the pieces in a presentation called “The Fosse Trilogy.”
““She’s immensely talented and creative as a choreographer,” Thodos said. “And we were so lucky to have initially connected because of friendship.”