Hedwig Dances creates, performs, and cultivates contemporary dance theater within communities of audiences, dancers, and artists with the goal of provoking human connection and wonder. To achieve this, Hedwig works in collaboration with prominent artists from a variety of mediums and cultural backgrounds, trains and mentors dance artists, and creates corporeal works of emotional insight and beauty---engaging its communities in a process of artistic creation and reflection. The resulting dances resonate with complexity and depth and provoke emotion, connection and wonder.
Celebrating its 34th year, Hedwig Dances is a resident company at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. The critically acclaimed and award-winning dance ensemble has performed over 1,500 times at prestigious national and international venues. The Company has twice performed in exclusive performances at Joyce SoHo (New York City). Additional engagements include Teatro Nacional de Cuba Sala Avellaneda (Havana, Cuba), Teatro Diana (Guadalajara, Mexico), Grace Street Theater (Richmond,Virginia), Margaret H'Doubler Performance Space (Madison, Wisconsin), Lee Theater (Spring to Dance Festival, St. Louis, Missouri), among myriad other performance residencies and outreach programs over the past three decades. Hedwig Dances, and its associated artists, has been honored with two Ruth Page Awards and a Chicago Dance Award.
Founded in 1985 by Artistic Director Jan Bartoszek, Hedwig Dances has inspired audiences with bold performances and innovative collaborations. Unique in the way it integrates theatrical elements with themes such as history, memory, and forms of personal and collective identity, Hedwig Dances uses projected images, sculptural artifacts, together with signature dance movements, to stimulate the soul and the imagination. Hedwig Dances develops new artistic talent and promotes dance as a discipline that strengthens body, mind and spirit.
Hedwig Dances reaches out into the community through public performance, collaborations and dance education. Each season, Hedwig Dances programs a series of intensive dance workshops. These workshops are geared to professional dancers and serious students of dance. The excellent national and international artists selected to teach these workshops bring unique cultural perspectives to their work and often address cultural and social issues of contemporary significance.
