Dance Spaces

1306 S. Michigan Ave.

Columbia’s School of Theatre and Dance has plenty of space for you to move—including a professional theater. We also have a dedicated sound and technology lab so you can create your own work.

Our building houses a buzzing dance community. In addition to studio space, we have a sound lab, locker rooms, and student lounges where you’ll hang out with your fellow dancers. And, we’re home to the Dance Center, one of the city’s leading professional dance theaters, where companies from around the world perform and workshop with students. It’s not unusual to see a professional choreographer, a faculty member, and a group of students stretching together in the halls.  

The Dance Center Stage

As a vital hub of the School of Theatre and Dance, the Dance Center presents companies from around the world each year. All of our students also take courses, do workshops, and perform in this state-of-the-art space. It’s a 268-seat theater with full projection capabilities, LED lighting systems, and excellent sound. There’s not a bad seat in the house—and you’ll have access to discounted tickets year-round.

Studios

All eight of our studios are used for classes, but they’re also offered through reservation so you can rehearse and create your own work. We use professional musician accompanists in our classes—think live piano and drums—but many of our studios are also outfitted with a computer and sound board so you can bring in your own music. Our biggest space has a light grid as well. Most of the studios have large windows that bring in tons of natural light, and they all have sprung wood flooring with marley. Our smallest studio—Studio 102—has a wood floor and is primarily used for yoga and rehearsals.

Sound Lab

We have nine computer stations with all the software you’ll need (like the Adobe Creative Suite and Premiere Pro, Reaper, Qlab, Isadora, and Final Cut) to create videos of your work and your own soundscapes. You’ll also have access to equipment like computers, cameras, and audio recorders. Our Screen Dance Sound Design course uses our Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI), which gives students access to software and storage from their own laptop.

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Upcoming Events:

• 10:30AM - 12:00PM Latin Jazz Workshop
  Wilfredo Rivera invites to join in a celebration of community and to explore your individuality through this Latin Jazz inspired workshop fusing elements of Latinx diaspora with jazz and contemporary techniques. The session invites participants to dive into uplifting themes of energy accessibility, earthiness sensibilities, soulful inspiration and playful articulation to awaken the senses &...Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM Musical Theater Dance Cabaret
  Dive into the School of Theatre and Dance with student choreographers and performers from both Theatre and Dance bringing their original take to musical theatre dance numbers. Co-Directors/-Producers Jaydn Hogue and Wyatt Smith Choreographers MJ Bueno, Carenza Glastonbury, Mollie Holbrook, Harmony Nielsen, and Wyatt Smith Faculty Advisor: Wilfredo Rivera ...Get the details
• 10:30AM - 12:00PM Afro Fusion Dance Workshop
  Hailing from Lagos, Nigeria, Tom Tom, a founding member of Westsyde Lifestyle, will take you on a journey of learning, discovery, growth, and culture. Westsyde Lifestyle is a pioneering dance crew at the forefront of the aesthetic development of Afro urban culture and lifestyle, securing its legacy for generations to come....Get the details
• 10:30AM - 12:00PM Afro-Contemporary Dance Workshop with Vershawn Sanders-Ward
  Make a date to dance every Friday this spring from 10:30 AM to 12 PM! From February 14 through and including March 21, 2025 new instructors every week, drawn from Chicago’s wealth of dance talent, visiting artists, and exceptional students lead this sampler series of a kaleidoscope of techniques, styles and approaches. All classes take place in...Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM Cosmic Docks by Nora Sharp
  The Dance Center continues to spotlight Chicago dance artists who are pushing the boundaries of the form. Cosmic Docks is a dance-theater one-them-show from Nora Sharp, born from the outer space of trans dis-certainty that journeys down a choreographic and comedic rabbit hole of intertwined sci-fi futurism and personal history. Shaped by repression, resistance, and...Get the details
• 10:30AM - 12:00PM Building the Scene of Dis/a/ssociation by Zach Nicol
  This workshop considers states of dissociation and alienation felt in the body and produced in the social realm. We will use durational group improvisation and seek to consciously embody divergence and opposition. We will explore registers of disconnection, dissonance, and detachment in our movement. We will lose focus and use attention, assemble a method to make...Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM THICK: a crumbling freak show by Po'Chop | Jenn Freeman
  The Dance Center continues to spotlight Chicago dance artists who are pushing the boundaries of the form. The 2025 Festival features world premieres: THICK: a crumbling freak show is a multimedia solo performance by Jenn Freeman | Po’Chop that confronts notions of femininity and civility and calls into question the creation of otherness. Freeman asks,...Get the details
• 1:00PM - 2:00PM Cosmic Docks by Nora Sharp
  The Dance Center continues to spotlight Chicago dance artists who are pushing the boundaries of the form. Cosmic Docks is a dance-theater one-them-show from Nora Sharp, born from the outer space of trans dis-certainty that journeys down a choreographic and comedic rabbit hole of intertwined sci-fi futurism and personal history. Shaped by repression, resistance, and...Get the details
• 3:30PM - 4:30PM THICK: a crumbling freak show by Po'Chop | Jenn Freeman (COPY)
  The Dance Center continues to spotlight Chicago dance artists who are pushing the boundaries of the form. The 2025 Festival features world premieres: THICK: a crumbling freak show is a multimedia solo performance by Jenn Freeman | Po’Chop that confronts notions of femininity and civility and calls into question the creation of otherness. Freeman asks,...Get the details
• 10:30AM - 12:00PM Ballet Check-In by Tuli Bera
  Oftentimes when we think of a ballet class - we accept that we will be expected to go through the standard/traditional ballet barre, center, and across-the-floor combinations. This class encourages a pause for inquiry and conversation to check in with what we are doing and why we are doing it. While this class will incorporate...Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM SPRING FORWARD: Dance Student Performance Night
  The spring edition of original, brand new, short works by student choreographers selected by faculty from an open application process. Some chosen artists are sharing pieces on the Dance Center’s stage for the first time, others offer works informed by years’ immersed in the DC’s the pluralistic curriculum. Lit by Theatre’s rising lighting designers, these...Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM SPRING FORWARD: Dance Student Performance Night (COPY)
  The spring edition of original, brand new, short works by student choreographers selected by faculty from an open application process. Some chosen artists are sharing pieces on the Dance Center’s stage for the first time, others offer works informed by years’ immersed in the DC’s the pluralistic curriculum. Lit by Theatre’s rising lighting designers, these...Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM Red Clay Dance Company: 16
  Red Clay Dance Company makes its highly anticipated return to the Dance Center in a program exploring emotional depth, technical prowess, and thought-provoking themes. The concert features a world premiere by legendary, award-winning choreographer Bebe Miller alongside Artistic Director and inaugural Walder Platform Awardee Vershawn Sanders-Ward's re-staging of Written on the Flesh. 16 is p......Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM Red Clay Dance Company: 16
  Red Clay Dance Company makes its highly anticipated return to the Dance Center in a program exploring emotional depth, technical prowess, and thought-provoking themes. The concert features a world premiere by legendary, award-winning choreographer Bebe Miller alongside Artistic Director and inaugural Walder Platform Awardee Vershawn Sanders-Ward's re-staging of Written on the Flesh. 16 is p......Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM Red Clay Dance Company: 16
  Red Clay Dance Company makes its highly anticipated return to the Dance Center in a program exploring emotional depth, technical prowess, and thought-provoking themes. The concert features a world premiere by legendary, award-winning choreographer Bebe Miller alongside Artistic Director and inaugural Walder Platform Awardee Vershawn Sanders-Ward's re-staging of Written on the Flesh. 16 is p......Get the details
• 7:30PM - 9:00PM DELVE: Dance Faculty and Alumni Concert
  The Dance Center’s renowned professional dance faculty and alumni choreograph new works performed by students....Get the details
• 7:30PM - 9:00PM DELVE: Dance Faculty and Alumni Concert
  The Dance Center’s renowned professional dance faculty and alumni choreograph new works performed by students....Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM WITH INCANDASCENCE: Dance BFA Capstone Concert
  Season 51 culminates with the graduating class of Dance BFA senior students Kayla Hansen, Konnie Kakridas, Aly Owens, and Rhianna Young’s original works drawing upon their years of study and practice....Get the details
• 7:30PM - 8:30PM WITH INCANDASCENCE: Dance BFA Capstone Concert
  Season 51 culminates with the graduating class of Dance BFA senior students Kayla Hansen, Konnie Kakridas, Aly Owens, and Rhianna Young’s original works drawing upon their years of study and practice....Get the details