B-Series Festival Celebrates a Decade of Hip Hop and Street Dance Culture with B-LONG
The Dance Center at Columbia College Chicago is thrilled to announce the 10th Annual B-Series Festival. This year’s focus, B-LONG:Honoring and Examining Lineage, Legacy, and Belonging in Hip Hop and Street Dance Culture, is scheduled to take place from February 29 to March 3, 2024. In partnership with Red Bull and the Show & Prove Hip Hop Studies Conference Series, this milestone event is co-curated by Daniel "BRAVEMONK" Haywood and Kelsa "K-Soul" Rieger-Haywood with Amina Norman-Hawkins and Dr. Imani Kai Johnson, founder of the renowned Show & Prove Hip Hop Studies Conference.
B-LONG serves as a vibrant intersection of workshops, panels, screenings, battles, and jams, acting as a unifying platform for scholars, practitioners, and community innovators. This year's festival places a special emphasis on Chicago's profound influence on the evolution of Hip Hop and Street Dance culture, by expanding the reach of the Show & Prove series beyond California and hosting Red Bull's Dance Your Style Chicago auditions.
Highlighting the festival's diverse offerings are workshops on Popping, House, Hip Hop Freestyle, beatmaking, and crafting performance, led by national and local artists, a celebration of Krump film screening, a community archiving day, and engaging discussions centered around Breaking, Hip Hop in academia, and Black social culture. The centerpiece of the festival, the B-LONG Battle & Jam, features globally renowned judges LaTasha Barnes, BIONIC, and Mikey Disko along with Chicago’s legendary Lady Sol and Footwork pioneer Q.V.I.P.
The festival culminates on March 3, with the Red Bull Dance Your Style Chicago Auditions hosted by BRAVEMONK and Killarina, creating an electrifying atmosphere for participants and spectators alike.
Dive into the world of B-LONG and view the performance schedule, detailed information and registration details.
The presentation of the B-Series 10th Anniversary is made possible in part by support from Alphawood Foundation, Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Honey Pot Performance's The Chicago Black Social Culture Map, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and Red Bull.
The presentation of 7NMS|PROPHET Wkshp: PILLARS was made possible in part by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.
This project is partially supported by a grant from the Office of Academic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Columbia College Chicago.
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