Corey Smith and Rachel Lindsay reflect on the March 2025 premiere of Nora Sharp’s COSMIC DOCKS at the Chicago Solo Spotlight Festival for Sixty Inches from Center: “Cosmic Docks is one part standup special, one part loop-pedal-karaoke, one part dance-with-an-uppercase ‘D.’”
Review: Jenn Freeman | Po'Chop's THICK on Sixty Inches from Center
Red Clay Dance Company's 16 Featured in Local Press: WGN-9 Midday Fix, Fox 32 and ABC 7 Interviews, New City, and more
The Chicago Tribune features our annual B-Series Battle and Jam and our Spring 2025 season!
Distractions and attractions onstage this season: Irene Hsiao picks our Chicago Solo Spotlight Festival in The Reader
Onstage front-runners: Our critics select a few promising performances for the months ahead.
Catharsis and Community: A Preview of “She’s Auspicious” at the Dance Center of Columbia College
See Chicago Dance Review: Artists pack a punch during Columbia College’s Chicago Artist Festival
See Chicago Dance’s Megan Kudla reviews our recent Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival second weekend of performances: “Every piece was carefully crafted and packed a punch, and the performers masterfully navigated the worlds created. The artistic output of Kilmurray & Brody, Howard and Swilley were meaningful and exciting, setting a high standard for what performance art can be and say about process, product and the relationships that are essential to them.”
Environmental awakening: ETHOS IV connects community to the Earth
A canopy of pink blossoming trees showers petals on the audience as we sail down the path, pulled along by a current of wind and sound. Slow and easy, like swirling air, four figures float through the grove, reverently laying hands upon the bark and grass. They caress the breeze and mimic the shapes of the branches and trunks. Ayako Kato—kinetic philosopher, poet and choreographer—pauses to hang from one branch, arm hooked delicately and body unfolding toward the sky. The crowd is hushed. See Chicago Dance reviews Ayako Kato’s ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth.
Rooted in Connection: The Dance Center Celebrates Local Artists During its Fiftieth Season
Sharon Hoyer of New City Stage interviews our Artistic Director Meredith Sutton: “The Dance Center at Columbia College Chicago is a semi-hidden gem just off the path of big-name performance venues in the Loop…Some of the most memorable performances I’ve seen in my near twenty years of covering dance in Chicago have taken place on the Dance Center stage. Experimental work, student and faculty showcases, nationally and internationally revered artists have all rarified the Dance Center’s air for half a century.”