Through June 2024, Second Tuesday of each month
Chicago Cultural Center, Dance Studio, 1st Floor North (78 E. Washington St.)
The Dance Studio Residency provides space, time and funding for Chicago dancemakers to create new work, and each artist or group offers free public engagements – artists talks, workshops, works-in-progress and more – to build diverse intersections and welcome more dialogue between audiences and artists.
The Chicago Cultural Center Dance Studio Residency is supported in part by a grant from the Walder Foundation. This project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
See Open Studio schedule below (visit ChicagoCulturalCenter.org for new additions and up to date information):
Saturday, March 23, 11am
Chih-Jou Cheng
Work-in-progress showing of Arriving at Dawn, a wordless physical theatre piece that delves into the theme of finding belonging as viewed through the lens of immigrants' experiences.
RSVP online (optional)
ASL is provided for this event.
Sunday, April 7, 11:30am
Helen Lee / Momentum Sensorium
Curiosities of Wellness in Bodies of Grief and Joy
Glimpse into the rehearsal process of building choreography in the round for 7 dancers. While this work currently has several sections from 2 previous iterations, this open rehearsal (with possible audience participation) will focus on a new section. Join us as we stumble along together to sounds written by Lee and arranged and performed by Sharon Udoh on the piano. Laughter and tears are encouraged.
Tuesday, April 9, 6pm
Drew Lewis / House of DOV
Join House of DOV in the Dance Studio for an informal showing of a new work-in-progress by Drew Lewis, featuring music by Family Junket.
ASL is provided for this event.
Thursday, April 11, 6:30pm
Aaliyah Christina
Join the PRAISE MOTHER SQUAD and their guest coach in an open workshop to learn the fundamentals and aesthetics of the Black majorette dance style developed at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU). Learn more about the way choreography and movement is developed in PRAISE MOTHER.
Thursday, April 18, 3pm
Drew Lewis / House of DOV
Join House of DOV in the Dance Studio for an intimate view of the rehearsal process and participate in the creation of a new work by Drew Lewis with live music by Family Junket.
Saturday, April 27, 3pm
Keisha Janae
Soulfully rooted in playful praise, this Praise House movement workshop will be a creative circle of expression with testimonials, dance, art-making and song. Through a guided process that centers care, participants of all experiences and backgrounds are able to step into the rehearsal process being used to develop "Praise House Ceremony". The workshop facilitation is informed by Keisha Janae's spiritual and faith-based experience.
Tuesday, May 14, 6pm
Jenna Pollack
A lecture-demonstration showing the poetic possibilities and considerations of material engineering within the creative process. Artists will discuss the pieces’ physical features (human-sized wooden sculptures that act as characters, props, and landscapes), values-based trade-offs in construction, and prototyping with a dance partner in mind.
ASL is provided for this event.
Monday, June 3, 6pm
Amanda Ramirez
Join artists for an intimate talk celebrating the universality of communal gatherings and food. Share your stories, recipes, and cultural anecdotes – an exchange of flavors and traditions – during this artist-led dialogue. Excerpts from La Cookout will encapsulate the essence of these gatherings and spark conversation about the natural inclination for communities to convene outdoors over food.
ASL is provided for this event.
Wednesday, June 5, 6pm
Amalia Raye Wiatr Lewis
Soak is a dance-based performance project that emerges from a study of public bathing. This work considers how both dance and bathing practices carve out space to imagine new ways of relating to our bodies, our community, and the natural world. The work is created through the exploration of pleasure and leisure, collectively created social space, and the relationship between body and ecology. The work-in-progress showing of Soak will feature dance, sound, and video projection mapping.
ASL is provided for this event.
Friday, June 7, 6pm
Jenna Pollack
A work-in-progress sharing, this event will consist of both the movement- and the textual-based research explored over the course of the residency.
ASL is provided for this event.
Saturday, June 8, 11am
Aaliyah Christina
The PRAISE MOTHER: Reflections Circle brings participants and facilitators together to discuss and unpack their relationships with those who raise/d them and/or who they’re raising in order to develop healthy habits for coping with mental health and/or expressing their triumphs or struggles in improving harmonious relationships.
ASL is provided for this event.
Tuesday, June 11, 6pm
Helen Lee / Momentum Sensorium
Curiosities of Wellness in Bodies of Grief and Joy: Oceans, Trees, Mountains, Clouds
Using lessons from the prior audience engagement in April, Helen and their collaborators will use curiosity as a performance strategy to pull apart and lean into joy and grief. They will experiment with using the dance studio space in the round, welcoming what discoveries are found in the delights and struggles that arise in the process of attempting a structure of a work-in-progress showing.
ASL is provided for this event.
Sunday, June 16, 3pm
Keisha Janae
Culturally rooted in the original “Praise House,” the Praise House Ceremony will be an open circle of play to share uplifting stories, movement, music, and song. Come witness families, care professionals, and creatives as they release and build a creative language of love and Praise.
ASL is provided for this event.
