Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, in residence at Northeastern Illinois University, presents three concerts as part of Zafiro Flamenco 45th Anniversary Festival. The program, performed at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, features the company’s world premiere of “Tangos de Granada,” choreographed by Wendy Clinard, artistic director of Clinard Dance. Two works in the bulerías and martinete (deep song) styles are choreographed by Nino de los Reyes, the first dancer to ever win a Grammy Award.

Summer is a time for young people to commit to a passion with even greater intensity. Every year, a group of promising young dancers, chosen by audition, do just that, spending four weeks learning, training and performing as part of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater’s Summer Dance Intensive (SDI).

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance resumes normal operations for the 2021-22 season, with a full line-up of public programs beginning this fall. Dance offerings include two previously postponed productions, both with ties to Akram Khan, and the return of Minneapolis-based Ragamala Dance Company.

The South Side Chicago Arts Center (SSCAC) has long been a place of exhibition, incubation and connection to African American art and artists through educational and artistic programs, exhibitions, talks, tours, and more. Founded in 1940, the SSCAC is a Chicago historic landmark and is the oldest African American art center in the U.S., featuring works from some of its founding members alongside new commissions by up-and-coming artists. Unfortunately, due to Coronavirus, the center is closed to the public and is only open for limited public engagements.

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater's 25th anniversary season will include appearances in Millennium Park and at the Auditorium Theatre, plus outdoor performances throughout the summer and a new film project. Announced Monday, the ambitious line-up of programming combines digital approaches gained during the pandemic with a celebratory return to live audiences. 

Esteemed arts administrator Scott Lundius has been named executive director of the Morrison-Shearer Foundation, a Northbrook-based organization aimed at preserving the legacies of Chicago dance luminary Sybil Shearer and photographer Helen Balfour Morrison, Shearer's creative partner.

Chicagoland’s dance community has an important and enduring friend in dance maverick Sybil Shearer and the Northbrook-based Morrison-Shearer Foundation.

The Foundation, established in 1991, perpetuates the legacy of dancer/choreographer Shearer and collaborator/photographer Helen Balfour Morrison as an inspiration for new creativity in the arts by providing grants, the Sybil Shearer Fellowship at Ragdale, which began in 2016 and occasional public programs and dance re-creations.

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project announced Friday that Jumaane Taylor will serve as artistic director of its signature festival, Rhythm World. Taylor, a Chicago native, trained at the Sammy Dyer School of the Theatre and has a long-standing relationship with Rhythm World, now in its 30th year. The renowned festival—which runs July 26-Aug. 15 and will include lectures, master classes and performances by some of the world’s top hoofers—is the oldest event of its kind dedicated exclusively to American tap dance.

In January, a diverse panel of artists and arts advocates selected Maggie Bridger and Rahila Coats from a field of 29 applicants for Synapse Arts’ New Works, the dance-theater company’s unique choreography project that has mentored 23 premieres. These young, underrepresented artists have been collaborating with their handpicked mentors, Bryan Sayner and Jenn “Po’Chop” Freeman, to refine their visions. They represent the 6th cycle of New Works in digital premieres on June 5 and 6.