B-Series

Each semester, a mini-festival celebrates acclaimed guest artists specializing in underground street dance forms such as breaking, popping, and house. With a jam or battle as the focal point, B-Series events become a gathering space for the underground dance community. The events connect the rich culture of hip hop, from dance to MCing, rapping, DJing, and graffiti, to the Columbia community.

Past B-Series events include:

  • B-Buggin' (Fall 2015)

    B-Buggin' celebrated a Lineage of foot styles, hoof rhythms, and sole building. The two-day festival highlighted Chicago footwork, Detroit jit, house and top rock styles. It featured Brickhouse (Urban Artistry, DC), Stringz (Hardcore Detroit, Detroit), Prince Jron (FootworKINGz, Chicago), DJ Phil (TekLife) & DJ Fast$Mike (NinjaChurch), a tap exhibition cypher hosted by Jimmy Payne, Jr., and an Exhibition Battle (Jit vs Juke) between MurdaMommy (Chicago Footwork) vs Queen Gabby (Detroit Jit/Hardcore Detroit & RUN JIT).

  • B-Rooted (Spring 2015)

    B-Rooted explores the all-styles phenomenon, from grassroots to new branches. By looking at the widening and intermingling landscapes of underground street dance, pop culture, concert dance, and the academy during the last decade, this two-day festival celebrates new forms and fusions. It will feature Venus Fly – one of the first all-styles crews in the Midwest and the first female all-styles crews in the US – as well as NINJACHRUCH, a Chicago-based all-elements hip hop crew with members spread across the world. From workshops and verbal cyphers, to performances and battles, B-Rooted welcomes everyone to learn and share.

  • B-Shown: Beyond the Cypher (Fall 2014)

    B-Shown looked at hip hop as a performance practice, with street dance bridging community battles to reality TV, cypher to concert stage. It featured Cricket (Step-Fenz), PopNTodd (SBK/LXD, America's Best Dance Crew winner 2009), and B-girl Bounce (MAWU), plus performances by FootworKINGz, Robot M.A.F.I.A., Boom Crack! Dance Company, and Columbia College Chicago alumni Destine Young and Luis Segoviano.

  • B-Real: A Look Inside Urban Movements (Spring 2014)

    A two-week constellation of workshops, classes, performances, and conversations, B-Real orbited around the Dance Center’s presentations of Compagnie Käfig, a hip-hop ensemble from France with a cast of Brazilian dancers, and Philadelphia breaker Raphael Xavier as a part of its 40th season. Additional guests included Kyle Abraham, Eric Delgado “B-Boy Wicked” and
Moncell “ill Kozby” Durden. A symposium focused on the history of house music in Chicago.

  • B-Fresh: Holistic Hip Hop Festival (Fall 2013)

    B-Fresh was a one-day celebration of peace, love, justice and having fun. From a graffiti street mural to an all-styles dance battle, B-Fresh mixed yoga and hip hop therapy with workshops on breakin’, footwork, poppin’, DJing, MC’ing alongside a bike tour, farmer’s market, and demonstration by Viva La Soul Power: The People’s Cook.

  • B-Divine: Celebrating the the Feminine in Hip Hop (Spring 2013)

    B-Divine highlighted women in hip hop through workshops, a panel discussion, and performances featuring B-girl Rokafella, B-Girl Teena Marie Custer, House of Ninja, B-girl Power, I Still Love H.E.R., Lady Champ, Glo, Lady Sol, Boogie McClarin, and Butterfly Poetry Project with Daniela Sloan & Brenda Matthews.