Displaying items by tag: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

Following last year’s smashing sold-out engagement, the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance proudly presents the return of Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project in a one-night-only performance themed Dancing the Archive: Embodied Histories, Collective Power. As performed by ten extraordinary Black dance organizations, this electrifying evening celebrates Chicago’s inaugural Legacy Bearers – ten visionaries and changemakers whose lives and leadership have shaped the city’s landscape across sectors while inspiring its future. This epic performance takes place at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 East Randolph Street, on Friday, August 28, 2026, at 7:00PM. Tickets, starting at $46.00, are now on sale online HERE or by phone at 312.344.7777.

Showcasing an incredibly diverse range of artistic genres including African, traditional, and contemporary modern and ballet, jazz, tap, and more, Dancing the Archive will feature repertory performances – and World Premieres created specifically for this program – by Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project’s third cohort: The Chicago Multicultural Dance Center, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, The Era Footwork Collective, Forward Momentum Chicago, Joel Hall Dancers & Center, M.A.D.D. Rhythms, Move Me Soul, Muntu Dance Theatre, NAJWA Dance Corps, and Praize Productions Inc. 

The evening will unfold through the following chapters: Record Keepers (archivists, historians, preservationists), Stewardship (philanthropists, resource holders), Wordsmiths (writers, critics, journalists, cultural narrators), Moral Courage (activists, faith leaders, truth-tellers), Sound (musicians, composers, sonic architects), Voice (media, storytellers, cultural amplifiers), Space Makers (presenters, curators, venue leaders, producers), Cultural Allies, Cultural Memory Continuum (dance artists as lineage bearers and embodied historians), and Transmission (educators, mentors, tradition carriers). Each company will present a work reflecting the spirit of its chapter, honoring a Chicago Legacy Bearer whose life and contributions embody that chapter’s theme. Together, these performances weave a living archive of Chicago’s excellence, inviting audiences to experience the stories, values, and vision that continue to shape our city. Specific honorees – and the dance organization saluting each – will be announced shortly.

“Powerful, moving, and unapologetically beautiful, Dancing the Archive is more than a performance—it is an experience! As a celebration of Black creativity, cultural memory, and collective possibility, this dynamic program invites audiences to witness how legacy lives not only in the past, but in the bodies, imaginations, and communities carrying it forward,” said Mashaune Hardy and Kevin Iega Jeff, Co-Directors, Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project. “And this year, we are honored to pay tribute to ten invaluable contributors to Chicago’s civic ecosystem with our first-ever Legacy Bearers recognitions and have collaborated with each organization to present a related work.” 

“The Harris Theater is proud to welcome back the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project for what is certain to be one of this summer’s dance highlights,” said Michael McStraw, Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols, Interim President and CEO of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. “Dancing the Archive reminds us that Chicago’s cultural legacy has been shaped by visionary leaders across every sector of our city. By honoring these Legacy Bearers through the artistry of dance, this performance celebrates the people, values, and collective spirit that continue to define Chicago.”

Leadership support for the Harris Theater's presentation of the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project is provided by Irving Harris Foundation and Joan W. Harris, Harris Theater Presents Mainstage Sponsor, and ITW, Mainstage Dance Sponsor.

About Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project

A project of the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at The University of Chicago, the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project is a multi-year project that celebrates the historic impact of Black dance in Chicago and beyond. Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project participating organizations, events and programs are open to all who are excited about celebrating the Black dance form.  We look forward to welcoming you to experience, create, and contemplate art. Funders for the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project's 3rd Cohort include the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Joyce Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, Pam Crutchfield, University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts, and friends of the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project. For more information on Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project, please visit https://www.chicagoblackdancelegacy.org/

About the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance

The Harris Theater is Chicago's home for music and dance, connecting diverse audiences with artists from across the city, the nation, and the world. An anchor institution of Millennium Park and the first multi-use performance venue built in downtown Chicago since 1929, the Harris was established in 2003 to create a much-needed home for the city's vibrant community of midsize performing arts organizations. Today, the nonprofit Harris Theater features some of the most diverse arts and culture offerings in the city, from its Chicago-based Resident Companies to the world-renowned visiting artists who perform on its stage through the Harris Theater Presents series. The Harris represents a distinctive model for artistic excellence, collaboration, and creative symbiosis, making the performing arts relevant and accessible to the widest possible audience. Acting as both a home base and supportive partner for its Resident Companies, the Harris provides state-of-the-art performance space and ongoing support to nearly 30 Chicago-based performing arts organizations. Its 1,500-seat multi-use theater brings innovative and boundary-pushing productions from more than 32 countries across six continents to Chicago, creating unique opportunities for dialogue between Chicagoans and the world's leading artists, thinkers, and innovators. The organization's signature Harris Theater Presents series has featured acclaimed artists and ensembles including Joyce DiDonato, Batsheva Dance, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, English National Ballet, Joshua Bell, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras, Angelique Kidjo, and Paris Opera Ballet. The Theater's education and community engagement initiatives build bridges between artists and community members, providing master classes, artist talks, and free tickets for more than 35 partner organizations throughout Chicago.

To learn more about the Harris Theater, Chicago's home for music and dance in Millennium Park, visit https://www.harristheaterchicago.org/ and follow us on Facebook, lnstagram, and Linkedln.

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.