Jane Jerardi
NANIGO 2025: Movement, Memory, and Liberation ...

Raynner Garcia (BFA, Musical Theatre ‘26) shares his experience of the National Association for American African Dance Teacher’s annual dance intensive NANIGO 2025 in this reflection. “Just a block from the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, the Autin Lo’Ren Studio was full of warmth and rhythm the moment we stepped in. You could feel the energy pulsing before any music played; it was a community in motion. As someone with limited experience in Umfundalai, I came with a few nerves, but the generosity of the community quickly washed those away. That is the essence of Umfundalai. More than a technique, t’s a philosophy rooted in Diasporic movement traditions, ancestral connection, and the beauty of the African body.”

NANIGO 2025: Movement, Memory, and Liberation on Juneteenth
Latest, Presented companies, Reflection, Press, The Dance Center
Jane Jerardi
Review: Nora Sharp's COSMIC DOCKS on Sixty ...

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: Nora Sharp's COSMIC DOCKS on Sixty Inches from Center
Latest, Presented companies, Press, Reflection, The Dance Center
Jane Jerardi
Review: Jenn Freeman | Po'Chop's THICK on Sixty ...

Corey Smith and Rachel Lindsay reflect on the March 2025 premiere of THICK: a crumbling freak show by Jenn Freeman | Po’Chop at the Chicago Solo Spotlight Festival for Sixty Inches from Center: “The [performance] is a tour de force of Freeman | Po’Chop’s chops.”

Review: Jenn Freeman | Po'Chop's THICK on Sixty Inches from Center
Latest, The Dance Center, In Memoriam
Jane Jerardi
In Memoriam: Our Founder Shirley Mordine ...

It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of our visionary founder, Shirley Mordine, who led the Dance Center from 1969 until 1999.

In Memoriam: Our Founder Shirley Mordine (January 8, 1936 - May 2, 2025)
Latest, Presented companies, Press, The Dance Center
Jane Jerardi
Red Clay Dance Company's 16 Featured in Local ...

Red Clay Dance Company is gearing up for its concert series at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and has been featured in New City, on See Chicago Dance, and several TV interviews - including WGN 9’s Midday Fix, Fox 32, and Chicago’s ABC 7.

Red Clay Dance Company's 16 Featured in Local Press: WGN-9 Midday Fix, Fox 32 and ABC 7 Interviews, New City, and more
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On The Ground: “Think in a different way” Joanna Furnans on Tere O’Connor Dance

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On The Ground: “Think in a different way” Joanna Furnans on Tere O’Connor Dance

“Think in a different way.” This is the first of many instructional Tere O’Connor quotes you will find in the response below. O’Connor is widely respected as one of the most articulate, sharp, and inquisitive choreographers working in the field today. While most dance makers (myself included) struggle to adequately describe their creative process and conceptual understandings of the form—Dance— in a way that doesn’t diminish the vast spectrum of its nature (if I may use a term that implies such universality), O’Connor is brilliant at it…

Joanna Furnans follows Tere O’Connor Dance through their residency at the Dance Center, sharing her reflections on it all with us.

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On the Ground: Homecoming - Shadows and the Africanist Aesthetic in Ephrat Asherie’s Odeon

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On the Ground: Homecoming - Shadows and the Africanist Aesthetic in Ephrat Asherie’s Odeon

In a new initiative called On The Ground, the Dance Presenting Series engaged five Chicago-based dance writers to be present for the week-long residencies that happen at the Dance Center. To start this series, Columbia College Chicago alum Brianna Heath participated in the activities during Ephrat Asherie Dance’s residency, October 15-20, 2019.

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Chicago Sun-Times profiles the Dance Center

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Chicago Sun-Times profiles the Dance Center

“The small yet spunky presenter will mark its 45th anniversary in 2018-19, an impressive achievement in a rough-and-tumble field that often faces some of the toughest funding challenges of any facet of the arts.”

Dance Musings: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

Dance Musings: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

During our spring semester at the Dance Center, there is a small cohort of dance writers viewing, discussing, and writing about each performance in the Dance Presenting Series, guided by Director Ellen Chenoweth. Comprised of Columbia College students and recent alums, cohort members were nominated by faculty members and applied for a position in the group. We collected a few excerpts here from their writings about the recent Dance Center presentation of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan…