Displaying items by tag: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

The first thing you notice about the meticulously curated Black dance performance held at the Harris Theater over the weekend is language.  The eloquence and weight of the words used to explain why the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP) exists and what it hopes to achieve. 

Organized in 2019, Black dance companies rooted in Chicago joined forces to learn from one another artistically and operationally while working in collaboration with the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts in Hyde Park and “other University of Chicago entities”. Sustaining viability and preserving legacy were placed at the heart of the project’s end objectives. 

Its formation would have several residual benefits.  An annual festival of dance performed by the companies who make up CBDLP remains chief among them.  Events like the one held Friday night to a sold-out house also raise the profile of Black dance in Chicago and underscore its contributions to the city’s cultural topography and its continuing vitality. 

Dancing the Archive:  Embodied Histories, Collective Power / Photos by Kyle Flubacker.

Honoring and showcasing the history and the arc of Black dance sat at the core of Dancing the Archive: Embodied Histories, Collective Power, the title of the evening’s multi-textured production.  Not only was it dense with dance featured by ten of the project’s cohort companies, video clips that provided essential context on the trailblazers who spearheaded creative renewal within the Black creative community was also woven through this remarkable gala.  The clips also helped to convey the importance and significance of the works being performed.  Framed as chapters in a book, the dances flowed together to tell a comprehensive story.

Made up of 175 companies, dance culture in Chicago is extraordinarily deep, wide and rich. For Black companies who often face greater exposure challenges, Dancing the Archive serves to train the spotlight on their presence and gifts. The high degree of that talent and its proliferation marked the entire program that opened with a focus on youth. 

Each individual work or dance suite performed honored a key individual who is making or has made significant contributions to Black dance or some other aspect of the city’s cultural art forms that reflect the Black experience.  Through The Stillness celebrated Homer Bryant, founder of the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center.  A work that Mr. Bryant choreographed and performed here by members of his company, it used Albinoni’s Adagio for Organ and Strings to pay homage to concentrated sensuousness. A dance for two performed by Sasha Levy and Davion Bellinger, it was an accomplished composition of strength, control and technical mastery executed with extreme beauty by two young dancers.

Dancing the Archive:  Embodied Histories, Collective Power 

The first chapter’s companion piece, Touch U, was a world premiere and an adaptation of Gerald Arpino’s Touch Me.  In it, choreographers Bradlee Lathon and Pierre Lockett collaborated with a phalanx of their very youthful and talent-laden dancers at Forward Momentum Chicago to present a dance sparkling with infectious positivity.  Bursting with innovative and highly sophisticated contemporary dance design, Touch U felt as if you were watching the next generation of dance on a maiden voyage. One that couldn’t have been more stimulating or aesthetically refreshing.

That sense of captivating vibrancy defined Dancing the Archives.  In addition to the absorbing heritage-centered components of the program, dance was used to provide visual markers to history and highlight the place Black dance held during its march.  Najwa Dance Corps’ Ancestral Steps looked back to dance crazes 100 years ago in the mid 1920s when the Charleston electrified a generation and the music of Count Basie ruled the airwaves.  Later, in another world premiere, M.A.D.D. Rhythms with their Oscar Plays Gershwin Suite (They All Laughed, Summertime, Nice Work If You Can Get It), deftly exalted the “fire, finesse and swing” of tap with cool bravado.

The span of time and of dance expressions that paralleled it was vast.  Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago in Woven jubilantly recalled another time and place when “living archives” were embodied in a central griot-like figure.

Lines in Motion danced by The Era Footwork Collective was all about the kind of suavity that happens when you fuse mellow chill to dazzling footwork; creating repeated flashes of dance lightning in the process. 

With Chance the Rapper as honoree, Chicago Multicultural Dance Center and Hiplet Ballerinas placed an impish toe in the future with its playfully eerie Speed of Light; attaching culturally specific overtones to our tech laden times.

Dancing the Archive:  Embodied Histories, Collective Power 

Superlatives in either concept, execution or; most commonly, both ran thick in many of the other dances performed.  Most of which have never been seen by audiences until now. Dorianne Thomas’s solo in Who Will Comfort Me, a world premier for the record books by the Joel Hall Dancers, was flawless in her display of dance fluency and emotional projection through movement.  Attributes found in other performances were just as noteworthy.   Praize Productions Inc.’s Leader of the Pack and Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s excerpt from Crowns instantly come to mind.  As does that churning and jubilant tribute to Curtis Mayfield and Lupe Fiasco by Move Me Soul.  Curtis Suite and Sour, masterminded by Diana Muhammed, brought back to life the musical catalog of a genius and created a dance piece that complemented it gorgeously.

Because remembrance played such a significant role in the program, the In Memoriam segment commemorating leaders and standard bearers who died in 2025 was particularly notable and memorable.  Before presenting the names and images of the fallen, a solo rendition of Precious Lord was sung by Cholé Johnson.  Distinguished by its spare simplicity and for Ms. Johnson’s captivating interpretation, the artistic merits of the performance were astonishingly high.   The song’s inclusion fittingly reveals the thread of the divine that lies within so much Black creative enterprise.  An indispensable component often found in the bedrock of creative inspiration.

Dancing the Archive:  Embodied Histories, Collective Power

Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project

August 28, 2026

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance

205 E. Randolph Street

Chicago, IL  60601

For more information:  https://www.chicagoblackdancelegacy.org/

From its beginning in 1992 on the tiny stage of a modest theater, Dance for Life (DFL) has grown and grown over the decades into something glorious.  Its purpose over the last 35 years, as conceived by DFL’s creator, Keith Elliott, then with the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, has never altered or faltered.  Mobilize a community devastated by a deadly scourge.  Raise money to help the stricken. Build solidarity within Chicago’s professional dance culture.  Initially and always a festival of dance chiefly focused on that second point, a few things have changed with time.  Although AIDS has virtually been vanquished, at least in the first world, health and other needs within the dance community have not diminished.  In 2025, DFL affiliated Chicago Dance Health Fund awarded $75,000 to dancers and other dance professionals facing critical need. 

The annual celebration of dance very much remains a way for dancers to help other dancers by practicing their art.  These days its being done on a much grander scale and showcasing a far wider range of what world class dance looks like and even feels like in the present day.

There were hints the 35^th annual Dance for Life performance at the Auditorium Saturday night would be particularly memorable and they all centered on dress.  Although venue is always a factor, dance audiences are not especially circumspect when it comes to presentation.  Much of the attire on display in the concert hall’s spacious lobby that evening was not only stylish, dashing and glamorous, some pieces touched on the spectacular.  Collectively, the energy they generated heightened the sense of expectation that already hung heavy in the air.  The display proved just the right harbinger to forecast a sensational night of dance.

Bulging at the seams with the exceptional, the latest iteration of DFL showcased ten dance companies along with two additional finale works - and even a third, a raffle performance. In addition to the traditional large-scale finale that always closes the show, the program would also include a sizzling bonus dance performance that was also featured in the inaugural DFL concert. 

This year’s show opened with elegance.  Danced to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s Beyond Mortal used sweep and grace to beautifully capture the secular spirituality of Mozart’s score.  Choreographed by the company’s Artistic Director Nicole Clarke-Springer, it reveals how one Black-led dance company lives up to its mission to “diversify the aesthetics of contemporary dance”.  Fireworks scripted in the language of the ethereal, Beyond Mortal ushered in the night with a nod to serenity and poise.

Giordano Dance Chicago. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

Giordano Dance Chicago decided to leave a different stamp on the gala by amping up a version of its signature heat.  There would be several excerpts featured throughout the evening and Giordano chose the best of its 2011 Sabroso to spellbind the thousands seated in the ornate theater.  Not only were the dancers speed and precision blinding, their joy blasted from the stage.  Triggering genuine awe and lighting up the room with cheers.

The temperature would ebb and flow throughout the night and after such a prodigious display of white-hot energy, a cool down came in the form of romantically sublime ballet.  This year a pair of fresh Joffrey faces, Hyuma Kiyosawa and Yumi Kanazawa, superlatively danced Postcards, founder Robert Joffrey’s ode to love, innocence and Paris of the 1920s.  With Jorge Ivars’ ravishing accompaniment on piano, the dance ushered in an extended moment of enchantment.

A slight pause and rocket engines soon screeched again with Loud, created by KC Bevis and performed by the Ensemble of Chicago Dance Crash.  Street dance and concert dance converged to make scorching hot magic in this mesmerizing performance. Here dance takes on a decidedly charismatic persona. One defined by strength, vigor, dexterity and boundless native imagination.   Jazzed up with the burning beats of DJ B-Gram P, the heady mix of club and dance culture lit the theater on fire.  One of many highlights that evening, Loud proved once again boundaries in dance simply don’t exist.  

Both Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater and later Trinity Irish Dance Company stole the show with drama and the ability to turn the sound of synchronized feet striking a stage floor into transfixing music.  In this case eliciting two completely different emotional responses that were both riveting.

Trinity Irish Dance Company. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Ballet 5:8 luxuriated in the freedom and unique beauty of contemporary ballet.  On their heels was another band of boundary pushers.  Chicago Dance Artists Piece performed Harrison McEldowney and Jeremy Plummer’s Red, White & Black; employing aerial concepts devised by Plummer.  Aerial acrobatics, dance and music by F.U.N. came together to blend brawn-flecked whimsy with a healthy dash of wholesome excitement.

After intermission, and dressed up in colorfully glam togs, Visceral Dance Chicago tapped into mischief. Dancing R E V E L, set to Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, they vamped, seduced and cavorted to the timeless music of an international classic. Devilishly choreographed by Nick Pupillo, it was not only brilliant and unexpected, it was massive delight to watch.

Visceral Dance Chicago. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

Two other works were even more impactful.  One was a dance featured in the very first Dance for Life performance called The Man That Got Away.  Sultry, sexy and a solid story told in dance, it featured only two dancers.  One acted simply as a prop.  The other, Johnathon Dole, was the soloist who danced the part of a shattered heart. One that begged and pleaded not to be ignored and cast aside.  Dole’s was the kind of dancing that kept rising and rising until it struck magnificent.  Buoyed by the right dancer, the right music and the power of bold expressive choreography, The Man That Got Away induced amazement and roars of approval.

The other masterwork was more restrained but no less beautiful or potent.  Robyn Mineko Williams and Artists danced a portion of Cloudline, a dream-state piece that used a 30-foot-silk cloth to help accentuate the dance’s atmosphere.  Two lovers find one another and embody the mystery and overwhelming satisfaction true love manifests through dance. As portrayed in movement by Morgan Clune and Amari Frazier, a more convincing display of that ideal is impossible to imagine.  A benchmark piece, its sudden and surprising ending provoked a collective gasp and then robust ovations.

This year’s concert honors choreographer, mentor and teacher Randy Duncan.  Mr. Duncan has created most DFL closing works since its inception, including Renewed; this year’s finale. Made up of dancers from the night’s performing companies, freelancers and students, they comprise a large contingent.  And in the muteness of Richard Dayhoff’s quiet gray costumes, there was a somber cast that shadowed their numbers. 

As the dance developed and took shape to music and lyrics by Ira Antelis, you could see the themes of resilience and positive conviction shining through.  A rejoicing in emerging from darkness to thrive once again.  The essence of Dance for Life. 

Dance for Life

August 22, 2026

The Auditorium Theatre

50 Ida B. Wells Drive

Chicago, IL  60605

For more information:  https://www.cdhf.org/danceforlife

There is something bittersweet of a one-time performance. The single moment in time displaying artistic excellence, be it music, dance, or art, retreats as quickly as it appears. The audience is often left reeling and wrestling with their emotions, reflecting on the performance, and recalling the beautiful moments they witnessed, as if trying to convert the fleetingness of the art to memory and make sense of their emotions. There is no better venue in all of Chicagoland suited to those brief artistic moments than Ravinia. 

This June, Ravinia was the backdrop for the Ruth Page Civic Ballet and Friends showcase featuring four talented dance companies (Ruth Page Civic Ballet, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Hedwig Dances, and Jumaane Taylor) performing classical and contemporary dance pieces that explored human nature and our emotions. More notably, the companies featured trainees of the dance companies, young burgeoning Chicago talent looking to launch their careers as professional dancers. Many of the young artists had offers in hand to prestigious programs and companies around the country with many more offers hopefully to follow.  

The showcase featured eight beautiful pieces roughly ten to twenty minutes in length. Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s piece “Aisantnaf” featuring Ahmad Hill was a standout performance with intricate lighting highlighting the dancer’s body and movement in intricate detail, making the slow burning performance entrancing to watch. Hedwig Dances featured a single contemporary piece “Syzygy” featuring H. Meneses, Rigo Suara, and Paula Sousa that explored the power of three as both humans and something more cellular. The piece had an odd track that made it almost uncomfortable to watch and the musical accompaniment played almost too loud, distracting from the interlacing of the dancers on the stage. It would be worth a second watch and a possible track change to see the piece performed again. 

The absolute crowd favorite of the showcase was Jumaane Taylor and Kayana Latimer of Jumaane Taylor and Stone Soup Rhythms performing “Cheap Suites 1-5.” The tap dancers play in these five short lived rhythmic minutes-long wonders, scratching deep into the floor until they decide to "check-out." The ensemble taps into a determination to morph the strategi rthymic patterns of Karriem Riggins (Detroit master drummer and producer), using detailed tap steps to particularly collaborate with these intrumental vibrations. The tap number was high energy and showcased the incredible skill, speed, and mastery the craft requires. Each small tap or pounding step resonated with the stage and the music in perfect lock step. It brought a smile to every face in the audience and was a difficult act to follow within the showcase.

In every showcase there is one performance that leaves you wanting more. For me it was a Ruth Page piece. While “Pasajera La Lluvia” featuring Kaelen Gouveia and Oscar Uribe Zapata was a beautiful contemporary piece, the standout was the finale performance of “Abscission” by Adrián Marcelo Sáenz. The number featured all the Ruth Page trainees within their ballet company; Keely Clark, Kaelen Gouveia, Hannah Gonzalez, Mian Hirasawa, Alicia Rene Kenefic, and Oscar Uribe Zapata. The contemporary performance was an exploration of the most intimate and dark places of ourselves; a self-imposed chain, a toxic past, a double edged decision, are we free or lost without them? It was an intimate, technical, and passionate performance by all the dancers and truly was a culmination of their years of hard work and talent. The entire piece could be expanded on to be a standalone show.

While a single performance can leave one bittersweet, it can also be the culmination of years of training displaying the years of hard work and talent put into the artform. The young talent on display at Ravinia for Ruth Page Civic Ballet and Friends was beautiful in its fleetingness. Chicago and Ravinia should expect to see these talented artists soon as they embark on the next chapters of their careers. To learn more about the Ruth Page Center of the Arts’ programs and initiatives, please visit www.ruthpage.org. To view Ravinia’s 2023 and lineup and purchase tickets visit www.ravinia.org.