Then, Now, Next—The Dance Center at Columbia College Chicago’s 50th Anniversary Season Offers Joy and Solace

PhotoNYC-based Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company will perform as part of the Dance Center's 50th season programming. Inspired by Founding Artistic Director Federico Restrepo’s true-life experience with his Aunt Sonia who chose death with dignity after a long illness, the dance puppet theatre work deals with the themes of life, love and loss.
The Dance Center at Columbia College Chicago celebrates the present moment in dance with a series of firsts.

This Spring, The Dance Center at Columbia College Chicago celebrates the present moment in dance with a series of firsts. Here is a quick summary with detailed ticketing and schedule information below:  

  • Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre makes Chicago debut. 
  • The 10th anniversary of the B-Series includes the Red Bull Dance Your Style Chicago Audition and Dr. Imani Kai Johnson’s Show& Prove Hip Hop Conference Series. 
  • LaTasha Barnes’s The Jazz Continuum with Grammy-award-winning Illinois native Christopher McBride comes to Chicago after wowing audiences up and down the East Coast.  
  • Acclaimed alumni J’Sun Howard and Erin Kilmurray join USA Fellow Ayako Kato and Red Clay Dance Company’s SJ Swilley for the Dance Center’s first Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival.  
  • The 50th season culminates with concerts celebrating new faculty works, including Lisa Gonzales, and premieres by graduating BFA students Lydia Jacobson, Joey Martinez, Gabby Sheets, and Se’Niyah Tribble. 

“The first half of the 50th season reminded us of the joy dance can unleash—with audience members out of their seats joining in impromptu encores after works by faculty, students, and guest artists. This coming winter and spring features artists who are exploring dance as a medium for joy and also solace,” says Meredith Sutton, artistic director of the Dance Presenting Series at Columbia College Chicago. 

January 25-27 kicks off the second half of the 50th season with the return of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival to the Dance Center for the first time since Plexus Polaire in 2019. NYC-based Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company’s Lunch with Sonia premiered at La MaMa and toured to Bogotá, Colombia, before making its Chicago premiere this month. Inspired by Founding Artistic Director Federico Restrepo’s true-life experience with his Aunt Sonia who chose death with dignity after a long illness, the dance puppet theatre work deals with the themes of life, love, and loss. The company will offer optional post-performance community movement reflections with audience members to share the weight of the material. An open-to-the-public workshop on January 27 offers Chicago artists an opportunity to learn the company’s approach. 

March 1-3 is the B-Series 10th Anniversary Festival – B-Long: Honoring and Examining Lineage, Legacy and Belonging in Hip-Hop and Street Dance Culture. Since 2013, the Dance Center’s B-Series has celebrated artists specializing in underground street dance forms such as breaking, popping and House. For the 10th anniversary, the B-Series is partnering with Red Bull and Dr. Imani Kai Johnson’s Show & Prove Hip Hop Studies Conference Series for a three-day festival of workshops, cyphers, panels, screenings, battles and jams uniting academic scholars, commercial practitioners and community innovators. Headlining judges will be globally celebrated House, Hip-Hop, and Waacking icon LaTasha Barnes, popper BIONIC (Rock Force Crew) and freestyler Mikey Disko (MOP TOP). The Festival culminates with the all-day Red Bull Dance Your Style Chicago Audition on March 3, where the finalists will move on to the Red Bull Dance Your Style Kansas City Qualifier. 

March 7-9 is the Chicago premiere of LaTasha Barnes’s The Jazz Continuum. The work features a powerhouse 18-person collective of dance artists, a DJ/turntablist and live musicians led by Grammy Award-winning Illinois-native Christopher McBride (saxophone). Combining improvised personal expressions and multi-Bessie Award-winner LaTasha Barnes’ choreography, the work showcases the connections between 100 years of Black dance forms including Jazz, Lindy Hop, Hip-Hop, House and other social dances. The New York Times reviewed the Joyce Theater premiere saying, “LaTasha Barnes’s The Jazz Continuum passes from each artist, like an electrical pulse, emanating into the audience and unapologetically invites them into its joy-filled powerful and transformative space - an experience unlike any other and certainly not to be missed.” 

April 19-27 is the Dance Center’s first two-week Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival. Week 1 performances on April 19-20 feature ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth by USA Artist Fellow Ayako Kato. The outdoor/indoor ambulatory performance begins at Chicago’s lakefront and ends at the Dance Center in a collaboration with biologist and storyteller Billie Warren, a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi; Dave Spencer and his indigenous drum group, dance artists Asimina Chremos, Rosely Conz and Carl Gruby and artist/writer/performer Andy Slater. Week 2 performances on April 26-27 invite audiences to explore the entire Dance Center building and experience installations and performances by J’Sun Howard (DCASE ’23-’24 Dance Studio Resident), Knockout by Erin Kilmurray (The Fly Honey Show) and Kara Brody (Lucky Plush) and a new work by SJ Swilley (Red Clay Dance Company).  

New works by students and faculty round out the season beginning with Spring Forward: Student Performance Night onApril 16-17, featuring premieres by student choreographers and designers. May 4-5 offers Re/VERB: Faculty Concert with new works by the Dance Center’s celebrated faculty. The Dance Center’s 50th season concludes with FOMENT: Senior Capstone Concert where up-and-coming choreographers premiere their Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis works. 

“We are thrilled to present an exciting lineup of visiting artists, alumni, current students, and faculty who are all dedicated to transforming the field of dance,” says Lisa Gonzales, Chair and Associate Professor of Dance. 

Ticketing Information and Schedule 

50th Season Half Passes 
Half Passes are $65 (a savings of $50). Dance Center staff will contact Half Pass Holders prior to each concert to reserve their preferred day and time.Purchase via Eventbrite or by visiting the Dance Center box office at 1306 S Michigan AVE or calling 312-369-8330 (Wednesday through Friday 2 - 8 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.). 
 
Lunch With Sonia (Jan. 25-27, 2024) – presented in partnership with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival 
Lunch with Sonia uses puppets, live actors, music, video, dance, and physical theatre to deal with the themes of life, love, and loss. Following every performance, Loco7 will offer optional community movement reflections with audience members to share the weight of this material. Loco7’s workshop on January 27 offers artists in any discipline (18 and older) an opportunity to learn the company’s approach. 

Tickets: $40/$30 (students and seniors), free to Columbia College Chicago students 
Ticket Link: Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival Box Office 

Thursday, January 25, 7:30 p.m. 
Friday, January 26, 7:30 p.m. 
Saturday, January 27, 4:00 p.m. 

Workshop: $61 (note, Season Half Passes do not apply to workshops) 
Workshop Link: Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival Box Office 
Saturday, January 27, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. 
 
B-Series 10th Anniversary Festival (Mar. 1-3, 2024) – presented in partnership with Red Bull and Show & Prove Hip Hop Studies Conference Series 
"B-Long: Honoring and Examining Lineage, Legacy, and Belonging in Hip-Hop & Street Dance Culture" is the theme of the 10th Anniversary B-Series festival co-curated by Daniel “Bravemonk” Haywood and Kelsa “K-Soul” Rieger-Haywood with Dr. Imani Kai Johnson and Amina Norman-Hawkins. Internationally renowned headliners and judges include LaTasha Barnes, BIONIC, and Mikey Disko. B-Long emphasizes Chicago’s importance to the past, present and future of Hip-Hop and Street Dance culture by hosting the first Show & Prove series to take place beyond California and Red Bull Dance Your Style Chicago Audition. Full festival line up TBA. 

Tickets: Free with registration. Note: B-Series (including Red Bull Dance Your Style Chicago Audition Registration) Link Goes Live on 2/1! 
Website: https://dance.colum.edu/events/2024/3/1/b-series-b-long 

Friday, March 1 
B-Long Festival Kick-Off – 6:30-9 p.m. 

Saturday, March 2 
B-Long Workshops, Panels, and Sessions – 9 a.m.-4p.m. 
B-Long Battles and Jam – 5-10 p.m. 

Sunday, March 3 
Workshops and Conference Sessions – 11 a.m.-3 p.m. 
Red Bull Dance Your Style Chicago Audition – noon (doors open) 1-9 p.m. (auditions) 

Latasha Barnes' The Jazz Continuum (Mar. 7-9, 2024) 
LaTasha Barnes’s The Jazz Continuum centers the prolific artistry of Jazz music and dance as a cornerstone of Black American culture and community with an intergenerational and multi-disciplinary cast. This offering to the continuum celebrates the joy and sacred power of the Black experience. 

Tickets: $30 general public, free to Columbia College Chicago students.
Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/latasha-barness-the-jazz-continuum-2984299 

Thursday, March 7, 7:30-9 p.m. 
Friday, March 8, 7:30-9 p.m. 
Saturday, March 9, 7:30-9 p.m. 

Spring Forward: Student Performance Night (Apr. 11-12, 2024) 
A sampler evening of new, original, short works by promising student choreographers – some sharing pieces on the Dance Center’s stage for the first time – lit by Columbia College Chicago Theater Department’s rising lighting designers. 

Tickets: Free with reservation. 
Reservation Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/spring-forward-student-performance-night-2985099 

Thursday, April 11, 7:30-8:30 p.m. 
Friday, April 12, 7:30-8:30 p.m. 

Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival (April 19-20 and 26-27, 2024) 
Four award-winning Chicago artists showcase the vibrancy of Chicago’s dance ecosystem over a two-week festival that pushes concert dance in new ways. Dancemaker and poet J’Sun Howard (BFA Dance 2019), kinetic philosopher Ayako Kato, pop-fringe creator Erin Kilmurray (BA Dance 2008) with Kara Brody, and artist/activist SJ Swilley will engage audiences on a journey throughout Grant Park and the Dance Center itself. 

Ayako Kato’s Ethos IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth (April 19 and 20) is an ambulatory performance with Grant Park’s Lakefront, the A. Montgomery Ward Gardens, the Agora Sculpture, and the Dance Center theater as performance sites.  

Works by J’Sun Howard, Erin Kilmurray and Kara Brody, and SJ Swilley activate the Dance Center’s three floors and theater (April 26-27)

Tickets: $50 Festival Pass, $30 general public single ticket, free to Columbia College Chicago students. 
Festival Pass and Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/chicago-artist-spotlight-festival-2989919 

Friday, April 19, 6-8:30 p.m. (performance begins in Grant Park) 
Saturday, April 20, 1-3:30 p.m. (performance begins in Grant Park) 
Friday, April 26, 7:30-9:30 p.m. 
Saturday, April 27, 7:30-9:30 p.m. 

Re/VERB: Faculty Concert (May 2-3, 2024) 
Columbia College Chicago Dance Department Chair Lisa Gonzales and other members of the Dance Center’s renowned professional dance faculty offer new works performed by students that forefront the now in embodied practice. 

Tickets: $15 general public, free to Columbia College Chicago students. 
Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/reverb-faculty-concert-2985759 

Thursday, May 2, 7:30-8:30 p.m. 
Friday, May 3, 7:30-8:30 p.m. 

FOMENT: Senior Capstone Concert (May 9-10, 2024) 
FOMENT highlights original works by Joey Martinez, Lydia Jacobson, Gabby Sheets, and Se’Niyah Tribble. Graduating Dance BFA students culminate their four years of study and practice with premieres of their original choreographic works. 

Tickets: Free with reservation. 
Ticket Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/foment-senior-capstone-concerts-2988539 

Thursday, May 9, 7-9:30 p.m. 
Friday, May 10, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

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