A Powerful Marriage of All the Things: LaTasha Barnes’ The Jazz Continuum Comes to Chicago

A Powerful Marriage of All the Things: LaTasha Barnes’ The Jazz Continuum Comes to Chicago

In the audio series portion of “The 1619 Project,” New York Times cultural critic Wesley Morris says that when he hears American pop music—jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, even yacht rock—he hears Blackness. Likewise (and inseparably) is American social Black dance, emerging and evolving alongside these genres: bodies unstoppably moved by syncopation and harmony, shot through with ripples of delight only a perfectly landed improvisation can provide. But improvisation lives in the new. And as Black artists push forms and culture forward, older styles can get left behind….

Dance Center Leaders Chosen by New City Stage for its Players 50 2024: The Institutions

Dance Center Leaders Chosen by New City Stage for its Players 50 2024: The Institutions

We’re really honored that New City highlighted our Artistic and Producing Directors as part of its Players 2024: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago. Meredith Sutton and Roell Schmidt, in collaboration with dance department chair Lisa Gonzales, are experimenting with ways to erase that “and” by “moving away from the ‘gatekeeper’ model of dance presenting.”

Dance Theatre Etiquette and How It Shapes Our Experience as Viewers by Gabriela Marks

Dance Theatre Etiquette and How It Shapes Our Experience as Viewers by Gabriela Marks

“It successfully showed the audience a variety of dances but it also showed us different environments and the possibility of these coexisting on one stage and theatre by highlighting their differences and similarities and embracing them in one space.”

A Community Unveiled by Elaina Fletcher

A Community Unveiled by Elaina Fletcher

“the Mo(ve)ment Performance Showcase as a whole, as it was a journey not just throughout different styles of dance, but an engagement unveiling the sundry ways of what a dance performance can look like and captivate those watching. And most notably, it unveiled a community in which I am avid in becoming a part of”

A Celebration of West African Rhythms and Movements: The Ayodele Drum & Dance Experience by Marisol Hernandez

A Celebration of West African Rhythms and Movements: The Ayodele Drum & Dance Experience by Marisol Hernandez

“As a dancer myself, witnessing Ayodele Drum & Dance’s performance really reinforced the importance of understanding the cultural and historical context of the dances I perform. West African dance is more than just a series of steps; it's a means for preserving the traditions of a people, for conveying their stories and emotions.”

American Dancing Bodies Symposium - Movement though the Soul by Demetrius Gordon

American Dancing Bodies Symposium - Movement though the Soul by Demetrius Gordon

“Although they are overshadowed by the contents of a performance, the structure and layout can make a huge difference in the impact left on the attendee and engaging the audience to be a part of the community being presented is guaranteed to make a performance stand out.”

Review calls the Dance Center “arguably the best venue to see dance in Chicago!”

Review calls the Dance Center “arguably the best venue to see dance in Chicago!”

Recent praise for FLOCK & Artists’ Somewhere Between calls the Dance Center -- “arguably the best venue to see dance in Chicago!”:

Sometimes in duets, and most often as a six-dancer ensemble, Flock’s Somewhere Between continues to mesmerize with seamless transitions. We lose track of time. It’s not unlike the hypnotizing effect of a lava lamp. All is fluid. Transitions are so seamless we only realize they have happened in retrospect….