A quick snapshot of the WQ 2025 TAPS Dance Program offerings. Scroll down for the location and description of each class, workshop, and event!
Workshops:
- Tap with Molly Smith
- Somatic Practices with Elliot Hammans
- Butoh with Ayako Kato
- Floor Work & Improvisation with Anniela Huidobro
- Contemporary Repertory with Abdiel Figueroa Reyes
- Dancehall Fusion with Stacy “Jukeboxx” Letrice
- K-POP with Lauren Sheng
Weekly Classes:
- Jazz Dance with Keesha Beckford | Mondays, 5-6:30 PM
- Release-Based Contemporary with Kara Brody and Maggie Vannuci (alternating) | Wednesdays, 5-6:30 PM
- Ballet Fundamentals with Todd Rhoades | Tuesdays from 5-6:30 PM
- Intermediate/Advanced Ballet with Erica L. Edwards | Thursdays from 3:30-5 PM
All workshops presented by the TAPS Dance Program are FREE and take place on Saturdays from 1-3 pm in the Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space (BARS).
If you have questions about whether a class is a fit for your level of experience, contact Julia Rhoads, Director of Dance and Assistant Senior Instructional Professor in TAPS, at jrhoads1@uchicago.edu
Weekly Classes
Tap with Molly Smith
Saturday, January 18, 1:00-3:00 pm
Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space (BARS)
Sign-Up Form
Tap dance brings together both the visual and auditory interpretations of the world to create percussive music and dance as one art form. Through explorations of rhythm & musicality, technique, improvisation, and choreography, workshop participants will be immersed in an overview of tap dance as music that will develop skills and open new doors of thought and creativity in art practices.
Molly Smith (they/them) is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and arts administrator proud to serve as Rehearsal Director, Director of Operations and Community Engagement, and a Company Dancer of Chicago Tap Theatre (CTT). Molly has danced with CTT for over 6 years and holds a BS in Dance & Arts Management from Oklahoma City University; they were nominated for Best Dancer and Best Choreographer 2024 in the Chicago Reader. They have over a decade of experience as a dance educator, and they currently teach at Incite Dance Center in Chicago, are the head of CTT's educational programs, and are on faculty with Activate Your Artistry (AYA) dance convention. They have served as a dance competition judge at Encore Dance Competition, In10sity Dance Competition, Ovation, and AYA. Molly is a choreographer and dancemaker, recently directing CTT's evening-length work Can You Hear Us Now? The Queer Tap Dance Revolution, as well as presenting works through Take Up Space Dance Festival, The Newport Theatre, and Poonie’s Cabaret at Links Hall; they are also a proud co-founder of and tap dancer/musician in the band THEM queers. IG: @mollysmith49
Somatic Practices with Elliot Hammans
January 25, 1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Studio (BARS)
Sign-Up Form
Explore awareness of the body through somatic movement. The workshop incorporates many exercises and movement ideas from Pilates, Yoga, Gyrokinesis, Feldenkrais, and Physical Therapy. Study the functional range and capacity of the body in order to discover efficiency in different patterns and systems of movement. Create more awareness of the body and gain tools for analyzing healthy sequences and functional pathways to apply within training, dancing, and everyday life.
Elliot Hammans began his formal dance training in 2008 with Robert Sher-Machherndl and continued his ballet and modern dance education with Moving People Dance in Santa Fe, NM, under the direction of Curtis Uhlemann. Following one season with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance and studies abroad at Austria’s Tanzzentrum SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance), Hammans earned his BFA in Dance in 2014 from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Hammans joined Hubbard Street 2 in August 2014 and was promoted to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's main company in August 2016. He has danced works by Twyla Tharp, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Kyle Abraham, Crystal Pite, Jiří Kylián, Nacho Duato, and Aszure Barton among others. Elliot's class, while rooted in a technical practice and method, seeks to understand efficient dancing by engaging in a somatic sensibility and awareness of movement.
Butoh with Ayako Kato
February 1, 1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Studio (BARS)
Sign-Up Form
In this workshop, Ayako Kato will guide students to take the first step into Butoh, a Japanese postmodern dance. Butoh was developed by masters Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno at the same time as the first Anpo protests from 1959-1960 against the United States-Japan Security Treaty. The form emerged as avant-garde and the antithesis to Western dance forms during the Japanese economic miracle/growth (1955-1973) and beyond. Having trained directly with Ohno, Ayako will specifically focus on Ohno’s approach to dancing Butoh and experiencing the cosmic inside-out practice.
Ayako Kato (she/her) is a choreographer and dancer originally from Yokohama, Japan. She is founder of Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape, a company that collaborates deeply with live music and is grounded on the principles of fūryū, Japanese for “wind flow”, cyclical transformation and human motion in nature. She has collaborated with more than seventy musician-composers, and has toured throughout the US, Japan, and Europe. In 2023, Ayako received a United States Artist Fellowship and was added to the Hall of Fame in Newcity’s “The Players Who Really Perform for Chicago.” Other recent honors include the Esteemed Artist Award from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (2022), High Concept Labs Fellowship (2021-2022), Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Choreography (2021), Trillium Arts ACE Fellowship in Dance (2021), and the Best of Dance in Chicago Tribune and SeeChicagoDance. She is also a recipient of a Links Hall Co-MISSION Fellowship, a residency at Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, a 3Arts Award in Dance, a Meier Achievement Award, and a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award.
Floor Work & Improvisation with Anniela Huidobro
Saturday, February 8, 1:00-3:00 pm
Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space (BARS)
Sign-Up Form
This workshop uses the floor as a tool to explore the body’s weight, density, and movement, with a focus on anchors and weight transfer to improve spatial displacement. Drawing on principles from the Continuum Technique, we will explore continuous motion to expand range and movement possibilities based on individual capabilities. Emphasis will also be placed on using music to provoke movement impulses and inspire improvisation. While designed for intermediate-level participants, modifications will be offered to accommodate all skill levels.
Anniela Huidobro (she/her) graduated from the Professional Dance School of Mazatlán, directed by the Delfos Contemporary Dance Company. She is part of the Continuum network of teachers, a training system developed by Omar Carrum in Mexico. International leader of JUNTOS Collective (USA). She has 10 years of experience as a teacher and performer giving workshops and dancing in different countries such as the United States, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, and different parts of Mexico. She has been awarded twice with the grant "Incentive Program for Artistic Creation and Development" in Mexico. Direction and production assistant at different Performing Arts Festivals in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, and recently at the Island Moving Company in Newport (USA).
Contemporary Repertory with Abdiel Figueroa Reyes
Saturday, February 15, 1:00-3:00 pm
Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space (BARS)
Sign-Up Form
This workshop begins with guided imagery, exploring both fluid and stabilizing exercises to inform various structures in the body. It then flows into dynamic phrasing that encompasses improvisational tasks, floor work, detailed gesturing, musicality, and more. Abdi will then teach movement phrases from his choreographic works as well as those he has danced through Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
Abdiel Figueroa Reyes (He/They) is a talented dancer from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, who moved to the United States in 2011. He began his professional training at The Rock Center for Dance and trained at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts. In 2016, he joined Contemporary West Dance Theater and, the following year, became part of Hubbard Street's Professional Program. His journey included a year-long apprenticeship with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, where he has been a company member since 2019. As a Youth America Grand Prix alumnus, Figueroa travels to educate emerging dancers and was recognized by Dance Magazine as one of the "Top 25 to Watch" and one of four LatinX Dancers Breaking Boundaries in 2020. He received the Princess Grace Award in 2022 and has been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Local Chicago. Figueroa is dedicated to innovative choreography, setting works for various dance collectives.
Dancehall Fusion with Stacy “Jukeboxx” Letrice
Saturday, February 22, 1:00-3:00 pm
Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space (BARS)
Sign-Up Form
Afro-Dancehall Fusion integrates traditional West African movement, Jamaican dancehall, and African pop culture dance styles, creating a colorful montage of dances of the Diaspora. Participants will learn fundamental steps and techniques from African and Caribbean dance forms. Then, the participants apply those very movements to exciting and lively choreography. Throughout the class, participants will gain an understanding of the similarities and differences between the various cultural styles while exploring individuality, confidence, body awareness, and performance. All levels are welcome.
Stacy “Jukeboxx” Letrice is a dancer, choreographer, instructor, mas band leader, and dance/movement therapist with over 20 years of local and global experience. In 2017, she was crowned Minnesota’s official Dancehall Queen after competing among other contestants from NYC, Europe, and the Midwest. Her passion for Reggae, Dancehall, Afro-beat, and traditional West African cultures has opened doors for her to perform with artists such as Cardi B, P-Square, Stone Boy, Afro B, Les Twins, Lady Patra, Tarrus Riley, Elephant Man, Serani, Mr. Vegas, Wayne Wonder, Tiwa Savage, Banky W, Praiz, Chaka Demus & Pliers and more. In 2015, Her work as a dancer and dance/movement therapist led her to create her own dance brand, “Jukeboxx Dance LLC”, dedicated to helping others pursue happiness through African and Caribbean dance forms. Her international travels include: South Africa, Nigeria, Barbados, Jamaica, Canada, London, Paris, and Portugal. When asked why she dances, Stacy always replies, “I know there is a God because I feel him when I dance.”
K-POP with Lauren Sheng
Saturday, March 1, 1:00-3:00 pm
Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space (BARS)
Sign-Up Form
Open to all levels, K-POP is a unique music genre based in South Korea that pulls different styles of dancing (hip-hop, pop, etc.) Lauren will break down the steps from groups like BTS, TWICE, BLACKPINK, etc. There will be one female artist(s) song and one male artist(s) song in this workshop.
Lauren Sheng started dancing as young as 3 years old but she started competitive dancing at 11 years old. She has mainly trained in hip hop and cheerleading under Twisters Elite All-Stars. During her time as a competitive dancer, she has won many national championships and the title "Dancer of the Year 2012". Her first introduction to Korean Pop dancing was in 2010 with "Run Devil Run" by Girls' Generation. Since then, her main focus has been foundations of hip hop and teaching K-Pop dancing. She has been in multiple K-Pop Dance Cover Groups (Knockout, Chemical X, Prism Kru, etc.).
Starting in 2014, she started her teaching journey with K-Pop Dancing. Nowadays, she currently instructs at Yin He Dance Center and MiFlow Studios. She teaches both kids and adults classes with an average of 30 students per week in all 6 classes. Her most recent notable contribution is instructing the young backup dancers for IU's Chicago stop on her World Tour. Her goal is not only to teach everyone foundations of dance, but to hope find some enjoyment with dancing.