B-COMING: Roots, Lineage, and the Ongoing Evolution of
Hip Hop and Street Dance Cultures

2027 B-Series Festival + Symposium | Call for Session Proposals

 
 
 
 

“Foundation isn’t a move... Foundation is the combination of the attitude, the understanding of the song and then putting that on top of the Top Rock, on top of the move, and on top of who you are.” — Ken Swift

"I know there exists impalpable elements that lie beyond physical movement. They are intangibles that tether jazz dance [and street dance] to an African American experience and hold a deep structure of cellular memory." — Moncel Durden

"Hip-hop dance, like music, becomes a site of intercultural communication... it is the 'connective tissue' that allows youth across the globe to express their own localized struggles while participating in a shared global culture." — Dr. Halifu Osumare

 

We invite practitioners, scholars, activists, educators, students, culture bearers, and enthusiasts to submit session proposals for classes, workshops, creative practice, freestyle cyphers, jams, panels, paper presentations, films, and more.

Selected proposals will be featured at the B-COMING: B-Series Festival + Symposium, taking place on February 25 – 27, 2027 at the Dance Center at Columbia College Chicago. (Note: additional opportunities may be available leading up to the Festival + Symposium.)

 

Overview

B-COMING, the 2027 B-Series Festival + Symposium, looks at the changing paths of street, club, and traditional dance forms through the lens of identity, memory, and shared global histories. B-COMING focuses on globalization and cultural exchange, exploring the powerful, in-between spaces where different traditions meet—and sometimes collide—at the crossroads of community and identity. Rather than settling for superficial blending, this theme interrogates the deep conversations, tensions, and boundaries that arise when street and club forms, sacred practices, and diverse cultural lineages navigate shared space, while honoring Hip Hop’s organic power to amplify the lived experiences of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. It serves as a space for artists and scholars to gather, share, and discuss how complex ancestral histories live inside contemporary bodies as we develop new ways of creating together.

For this year’s combined festival and annual symposium, Co-Curators Daniel "BRAVEMONK" Haywood and Kelsa "K-Soul" Rieger-Haywood invite session proposals from all corners of the global ecosystem to interrogate, celebrate, and reflect on what it means to be in a continuous process of B-COMING.


Dates and Deadlines

  • October 5, 2026 — Submissions Due (with grace period through October 9)

  • October 12, 2026 — Notification of Acceptance

  • February 25–27, 2027 — Days of Festival and Symposium Sessions

Submit Session Proposal
 

Topics to Consider

  • Roots and Branches: Foundation, specificity, and organic evolution of traditional, street and social dance forms

  • The Politics and Ethics of Cultural Rub: Navigating extraction, appropriation, co-optation, coexistence, reciprocity, and dialogic artmaking

  • Borderlands & Geographies: Where local communities and global diasporas intersect

  • Decolonizing Validity: Moving past Eurocentric, hegemonic (cultural dominance), or industry-driven standards

  • Protected Spaces: Honoring sacred boundaries and the choice to remain closed

  • Kinesthetic Memory: Ancestral history, lineage, and physical healing in motion

  • Evolving Practices: Process-oriented approaches to creating, teaching, and documenting dancing and culture

  • Other...

Questions to Consider

If you need guidance developing your session proposal, we encourage you to reflect on these questions from your unique perspective inside street, club, commercial, community, sacred, traditional, academic or diasporic spaces:

  1. How do we engage with another culture's movement traditions respectfully, dialogically, and reciprocally without slipping into erasure or extraction?

  2. Where does the boundary sit between protecting a culture’s foundational lineage and gatekeeping its growth? Is it possible to do both simultaneously?

  3. How do complex ancestral histories and global migrations live inside our bodies when we enter shared spaces or cyphers? How does participation in various dance cultures help us deepen understanding of our own complex identities? How do our privileges impact the spaces we enter and participate in? 

  4. How do we build meaningful artistic coalitions across distinct communities while honoring the friction or disagreements that naturally arise?

  5. What does it look like to consciously resist or rise to the demands of commercialized globalization or codification/standardization in street dance? 

  6. Gatekeeping or safekeeping?  By whom and for whom?

Session Formats

The program committee welcomes proposals in multiple formats. Interdisciplinary, experimental, and radical formats are highly encouraged.

  • Paper/Scholar Presentations (Maximum 20 minutes)

  • Movement Classes and Workshops (Maximum 40 minutes)

  • Panels, Community Forums, and Film Screenings (Maximum 1 hour)

  • Creative Practice, Freestyle Cyphers, and Jam Sessions (Maximum 1 hour)

  • Lecture-Demonstrations (Maximum 30 minutes)

  • Alternate Formats are welcome and highly encouraged 

A $150 honorarium will be provided for each accepted session.

Submission Requirements

All materials must be submitted via the online portal in English:

  1. Presenter Name(s), artistic/academic affiliation (if any), and contact info.

  2. Session Title.

  3. Proposal Abstract (250–500 words explaining the focus and structure of your session).

  4. Theme Response (200 words or less): How does your practice or research engage with the concept of "B-COMING" and the ongoing negotiation of dance lineages?

  5. Technical and Space Needs (audio, flooring, projector, etc.).

  6. Brief Bio (150 words) and a high-resolution photo (headshot or action shot).

  7. CV, resume, or a link to online work/movement samples.

Additional Details & Logistics

  • Location: The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605.

  • Selection Process: A program committee made up of Dance Center faculty, staff, students, and community partners will review and pair complementary proposals into shared sessions.

  • Contact: For questions regarding the submission process, please contact the Dance Center’s Artistic Director Meredith Sutton: msutton@colum.edu and Producing Director Roell Schmidt: roschmidt@colum.edu.

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago 

Embedded in the School of Theatre and Dance, the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago values embodied human expression and nurtures an expansive understanding of dance from the established to the experimental. Centering pluralism, the Dance Center aims to be a nucleus for innovation and creativity—on stage, in the classroom, and beyond. By partnering with local, national, and international dance artists dedicated to transforming the field, the Dance Center offers live performances and other shared opportunities for students, faculty, artists, and audiences to connect, witness, research, experiment, practice, imagine, and grow. We cultivate an environment and culture that prioritizes respect for self and others, and advances an anti-racist, equitable, and just society.

BraveSoul Movement

BraveSoul Movement is a Chicago-based street dance company rooted in the movement languages and cultures of Hip-Hop and Chicago House. Established in 2016 from a 25-year synergy between Co-Artistic Directors Daniel “BRAVEMONK” Haywood and Kelsa “K-Soul” Rieger-Haywood, the collective blends innovative dancemaking with transformative pedagogy and decolonizing practices, while also creating spaces for healing, intentional community building, and deep engagement. Their work centers authentic connection.