Columbia College Chicago Announces Spring 2022’s B-Series Dance Festival

b-series photo of people dancing
Columbia’s underground dance festival to take place March 18-19.

The B-Series, a mini dance festival that celebrates acclaimed guest artists specializing in underground street dance forms such as breaking, popping, and house was developed in 2013 as part of the process of bringing Hip-Hop Studies into the curriculum at Columbia College Chicago. With a jam or battle as the focal point, B-Series events become a gathering space for the underground dance community. The festival takes place every semester with a different theme. The Spring 2022 B-Series theme is B-Healin’ and will take place March 18-19.

“This semester’s theme—B-Healin'—highlights the fruits of the beautiful exchange we have been engaged in over the last nine years,” says Kelsa Robinson, Assistant Professor of Instruction in Columbia’s Dance Department. “We are honoring and leaning into the ways that Hip-Hop Culture is and has always been a movement of community building and healing. We are also highlighting and drawing upon many of our local Hip-Hop community members who have built practices around individual and communal healing.”

Several Columbia alums will be leading workshops as part of the two-day festival: Vanessa De Leon, Kiera King, and Orlando de León Jr. Hip-Hop Studies students will be sharing their work, speaking, designing, performing, and battling. “We have artists who built up their chops battling at the B-Series over the last nine years who are now serving as judges and co-curators.  And we will all be blessed by the gifts of two amazing visiting artists: YNOT and Miss Chief Rocka,” says Robinson. “This B-Series is going to be a transformative experience, especially for anyone who is able to participate in some of the workshops in addition to the main event: The Jam.”

“We recognized that the institution's role is not to replace or even replicate the way Hip-Hop has been taught and passed down for decades, it's about building reciprocal relationships with the Hip-Hop community,” says Robinson. “Hence, the B-Series was born as a space where the community and students can come together to exchange and engage authentically.”

B-Series (Spring 2022): B-Healin’ will take place Friday, March 18, 2022 from 6-9 p.m. and Saturday, March 19 from 12-8 p.m. Most activities will be free, however tickets are required for entry. Masks are required indoors at Columbia College Chicago regardless of vaccination status. All Columbia College Chicago visitors must show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test (taken no more than 72 hours before the event) upon arrival for registration/check-in. For more information click here.    

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Daisy Franco
Communications Manager
dfranco@colum.edu

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