Season 52 kicks off with an evening showcase and day-long symposium that delves into what is contemporary in dance.

Ayodele Drum and Dance’s first standalone concerts at the Dance Center feature the company’s repertoire of masquerade works in honor of Halloween and a new drum piece created by Founding Executive/Artistic Director and Dance Center faculty T. Ayo Alston inspired by her training with Merveilles de Guinée based in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa. 

This coveted platform for student choreographers is to share original, short works on the Dance Center’s stage with an audience is as dynamic as the performances. The Friday matinee will feature an opening performance by Realize program participants – Chicago Public High School students earning college credit at the Dance Center.

Each week’s distinct program culminates 14 Dance majors’ journeys through the choreographic process: from creative impulse through auditions, rehearsals, outside eyes, and design decisions to presenting their new works on the concert stage.

South Chicago Dance Theatre makes its Dance Center debut with the world premiere Lamentations for Peace by Founder and Director of Vision and Strategy Kia S. Smith. This brand new holiday show is the third evening-length work by the nine-year-old company after IN/WITHIN and Memoirs of Jazz in the Alley, both of which premiered at the Auditorium Theatre.

Translated as “power” from the Nguni languages Xhosa and Zulu, these culminating concerts of 2025 feature works by visiting choreographer Monique Haley and faculty Bevara Anderson and Kelsa Rieger-Haywood set on students enrolled in one of the most popular Dance courses.

The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival returns to the Dance Center with this U.S. premiere from India. Drawing on the Rama myth in Bhavabhuti’s ‘Uttararamacharita’ through Bunraku puppetry, Kathakali and Chau dance, and projected animation, About Ram focuses more on what Ram thinks and feels than on what he does.

This third annual student-produced, directed, choreographed and performed revue features Acting, Dance, Design, and Musical Theatre majors bringing their creativity to musical theatre dance numbers.

​The Chicago premiere of Floe fits into a set of The Seldoms’ repertory about environmental issues and that the new normal is change. Research in the creation of the work included learning from locals affected by the Wisconsin floods of 2018, the sea ice changes at the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea Lagoon, and Houston’s Hurricane Harvey.

Natya Dance Theatre (NDT) celebrates 50 years and continues their tradition of sharing important milestones in its rich history at the Dance Center. Rooted in tradition, shaped by vision, and guided by rasa, Natya Dance Theatre celebrates 50 years of preserving and perpetuating bharata natyam.

This inaugural festival showcases four of Columbia College Chicago’s student run organizations open to all majors and dedicated to Ballet, Hip Hop, Mixed Styles, and K-pop.

Embrace the energetic lift of early spring with original, brand new, short works by student choreographers selected from an open application process. These eagerly anticipated concerts feature audiences as electric as the performers.

The Dance Center’s renowned professional dance faculty and alumni choreograph new works performed by students.

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre makes its Dance Center debut with three new world premieres: Immense World by Shannon Alvis, Trouble in Mind by Monique Haley, and Bridge Over Troubled Water by CRDT Co-Founder and Artistic Director Wilfredo Rivera with arrangements and original music by CRDT Co-Founder Joe Cerqua. Back by popular demand is Shannon Alvis’ A Place Between Earth & Sky (2018) with original music by Clarice Assad.