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Dancer Dies After 'Freak Occurrence' At Rehearsal

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago dancer with a bright future has been killed in a freak accident involving a metal acrobatic ring.

Marco Gonzalez, a member of a small local dance troupe, was killed yesterday afternoon during a break in rehearsal.

The young Mexican dancer arrived in Chicago only last year and was a member of the troupe called DanceWorks Chicago.

Other members of the troupe, headquartered at the Page Center for the Arts, are in mourning.

He was a dancer full of talent and energy and promise, but Marco Gonzalez' life was snuffed out in a moment.

The native of Mexico was on the stage of a rehearsal hall inside an Albany Park industrial building when a heavy steel acrobatic ring somehow fell. It struck the young dancer in the head. Emergency crews could not save him.

A statement on the DanceWorks Chicago website said, "Dancer Marco Antonio Huicochea Gonzalez suffered a life ending accident," and that it is a "very sad and difficult time."

Chicago stage performer Brandon Moorhead is also mourning.

"It's really unfortunate to lose somebody from our lauded, internationally lauded artistic community here in Chicago and somebody with such talent and potential," Moorhead said.

Gonzalez studied dance in Mexico City, New York and Paris and came to Chicago last year.

The Cook County Medical Examiner has ruled this was an accidental death and that Gonzalez died of blunt force trauma.

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