Victoria Jaiani

Catch her on August 23 in a solo showcase at the Museum of Contemporary Art; chicagodancingfestival.com
Ghost-like. Haunting. Celestial. Critics have used spectral adjectives to describe this ethereal, long-limbed prima. Plucked from the Joffrey training program to join the company before she was even 17, the Rogers Park resident, born in Tbilisi, Georgia, has proved over the past decade to be both exquisitely technical and refreshingly whimsical, whether she’s adding her own flair to a contemporary dance by Christopher Wheeldon or burning through multiple pairs of toe shoes in one night for the arduous part of Cinderella.