Winter Dance Showcase

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March 2-4, 2023 | 2:00pm & 7:30pm
Theater West, Logan Center

UChicago’s first ever professionally-led dance show brings students together with artists, directors, and choreographers from across Chicago. A full quarter of studio work culminates in four performances spanning genres from hip hop to contemporary to dance-theater. Synthesizing theory and practice, the production coalesces broad conversations about expressive culture, embodied research, devised performance, and community-based creative processes, representing the vibrancy of dance on campus. Choreography by BraveSoul Movement, Julia Rhoads, Robyn Mineko Williams, Vershawn Sanders-Ward, and Yvonne Rainer.

Cinderbox 2.0 (excerpts)

Choreographer
Julia Rhoads

Julia Rhoads (Choreographer) is Director of Dance and Assistant Senior Instructional Professor in Theater and Performance Studies at University of Chicago and the founding Artistic Director of Lucky Plush Productions, a MacArthur Award-winning ensemble recognized for its unique blend of dance, theater, comedy, and socially relevant themes. Her work with Lucky Plush has toured to over 75 venues worldwide, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (DC), Joyce Theater (NYC), Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, ODC (CA), Wellesley Center (Auckland, NZ), and Teatro Las Carolinas (Havana, Cuba). Other choreography credits include Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, River North Dance Chicago, and she was commissioned to create a work in honor of the Year of Chicago Theater for Art on theMart, the world’s largest digital installation. She is the recipient of an Alpert Award in Dance, fellowships from Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography and Chicago Dancemakers Forum, and her work for Lucky Plush has received creation and touring awards from National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, National Theater Project, and National Performance Network. She is a former member of the San Francisco Ballet and ensemble member of XSIGHT! Performance Group, and received her BA in History from Northwestern University and her MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute Chicago.

Co-creators
The student ensemble generated much of their own movement and there are improvised moments throughout the structured score. The full work was originally devised with the artists of Lucky Plush Productions (2013).

Ensemble
Ariana Baginski (Ensemble) is a fourth-year Molecular Engineering major on the Bioengineering track and TAPS minor. She has been dancing since the age of 2 across many styles including ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary. She currently dances and choreographs for UChicago MAYA so you may have recently seen her in MAYA's Winter Showcase, Through Nature. Outside of dance, she also enjoys working with University Theater, doing tae kwon do, and crocheting baby blankets despite not knowing many babies. She would like to thank Julia, Robyn, and Kevin for creating this wonderful opportunity and trusting her to participate. Enjoy the show!! :)

Justin Carlson (Ensemble) is a second year Master of Divinity student and Disciples Divinity House scholar, dancer, musician, and preacher. He performed as Prince Siegfried in University Ballet's Swan Lake last year and is heard across campus playing the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Carillon as a member of the student guild. In Minnesota, he studied at Ballet Arts Minnesota, MacPhail School of Music, Carleton College, and Zenon. He has performed with Christopher Watson, Beyond Ballroom, and Semaphore Repertory; with the Energy and TRANSForm dance collectives; and in the Minnesota Fringe Festival, Twin Cities Horror Festival, and Art Shanty Festival. When in the Twin Cities, he plays viola with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. His speaking has been heard in Bond Chapel, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA), and at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Minneapolis.

Josette Chang (Ensemble) is a fourth-year Business Economics major and TAPS minor. She has trained in ballet-based styles since childhood and now co-directs UChicago Maya Dance Company. She peaked in high school reaching the quarterfinals on America's Got Talent and making a halftime appearance with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She looks forward to this last hurrah before retiring as a washed-up alumnus of nearly every dance course UChicago has to offer.

Gabi Floyd (Ensemble) is a student at the University of Chicago. 

Gwendolyn Laub (Ensemble) is a third-year TAPS and GNSE major. Gwen has danced in musicals since she was 11 and was on her high school’s dance team. The most recent musical you may have seen her in was Trail to Oregon! as Son. Coming up you can catch her in BMC premiering 6th week of Spring Quarter (April 27th-29th). Gwen hopes you all enjoy the show!
 

Laura Tutondele Mahaniah (Ensemble) is a third-year at UChicago studying TAPS, Anthropology and Linguistics. She is a member of Groove Theory (UChicago's only freestyle hip hop crew) and Ex Crew, as well as an avid attendant of TAPS workshops and weekly classes. Laura Tutondele has also worked on a variety of UT and Dean's Men productions as an actor, director and dramaturg. Her current projects include the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (research assistant), Beshrew Me! (research assistant), Be More Chill (Choreographer) and The Physicists on Silks (Director, Production Manager). Follow her artistic journey on instagram at @lauratutondele.

Jalen Sutton (Ensemble) is a second year Gender and Sexuality Studies and Theater and Performance Studies Major. They are a former captain of the UChicago cheer team and an active member of the Le Vorris and Vox Circus club. Jalen also enjoys reality television in all forms and is a producer of Survivor Chicago.

Judy (Jiabao) Wang (Ensemble) is a second-year student double majoring in Global Studies and Business Economics. She loves all types of dance and is involved in two dance groups on campus. She is the current assistant director of UChicago Maya Dance Company and a member of Ex-Crew. Judy started dancing when she was five. She was trained in competitive Chinese traditional dance and contemporary dance. She started hip-hop in college and has been loving it ever since. Judy’s passion for dance has led her to explore beyond UChicago, she has participated in both UCLA and NYU Tisch’s dance residency programs as a visiting student. Judy’s favorite thing about dance is the people. She loves all her friends she dances with and has been enjoying her experience as a dancer because of the amazing people she surrounds herself with.


Script
UChicago student ensemble & Lucky Plush Productions

Original Music
Michael Caskey

Sound Design
Hannah Foerschler

Lighting Design
Kaili Story

Costume Design
Stephanie Cluggish

Assistant Costume Design
Jocelyn Garcia

Prop Design
Jenny Pinson

About Cinderbox 2.0
Cinderbox 2.0 explores the comedy and anxiety in our media’s voyeuristic approach to reality through a performance that blurs the distinctions between observer and observed, personal and presentational, scripted and off-the-cuff. The original show was co-commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago with support from National Performance Network.

Love Letters to Chi-IL

Choreographer
Vershawn Sanders-Ward

Vershawn Sanders-Ward (Choreographer) holds an MFA in Dance from New York University and is the first recipient of BFA in Dance from Columbia College Chicago (Gates Millennium Scholar.) She is the Founding Artistic Director and CEO of Red Clay Dance Company and is currently a candidate for Dunham Technique Certification. Sanders-Ward is a 2022 Dance/USA Artist Fellow, 2019 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Awardee, a 2019 Harvard Business School Club of Chicago Scholar, a 2017 Dance/USA Leadership Fellow, a 2013 3Arts awardee, and a 2009 Choreography Award from Harlem Stage NYC. In 2015, 2018 and 2020, NewCity Magazine selected Ward as one of the “Players 50, People Who Really Perform for Chicago”.

Her choreography has been presented in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, The Yard at Martha’s Vineyard, and internationally in Toronto, Dakar and Kampala. Vershawn is currently on faculty at Loyola University Chicago in the Fine and Performing Arts Department and has received choreographic commissions from Columbia College Chicago, Northwestern University, Knox College, AS220, and the National Theatre in Uganda. Her upcoming site-inspired choreographic project, Rest.Rise.Move.Nourish.Heal which is set to premiere June 2023 was selected for a 2021 National Dance Project Award from NEFA with additional support from the NEA.

As an arts advocate, she serves on the Board of Trustees for Dance/USA as well as the Board of Directors for the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago. Vershawn was selected to attend the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit for Emerging Global Leaders and has had the pleasure of gracing the cover of the Chicago Reader and DEMO, Columbia College Chicago’s Alumni Magazine.


Choreographer Assistant
Chaniece Holmes

Dancers
Gabrielle Berman (Dancer) is a fourth-year Biological Sciences major. She has danced with UBallet and UChicago Maya since autumn of her first year in the college. She is very excited to perform and thrilled to have had this opportunity to work with such amazing choreographers and dancers!

Orion Douglas (Dancer) is a second year Urban Studies and Global Studies double major. He is the Creative Director of the African Caribbean Students Association and UChicago's first African Dance Team: Ankara Magic.

Sage Martinez (Dancer) is a student at the University of Chicago.


Leslie McCauley (Dancer) had the pleasure of working with Vershawn Sanders-Ward and Chaniece Holmes in the piece “Love Letters to CHI-IL”. Leslie is a fourth-year dual degree MD/MPH student at the Pritzker School of Medicine. Their movement hails from experiences at the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center, Whitney Young’s Guys and Dolls Dance Company, and Brown University’s Fusion Dance Company. This is their first time being on stage in 5 years, and yes, grandma still got it.

Text
Dedrick D. Banks Gray

Music
SJ Lewis, Avery R Young, Marcel de Van & Lyane Hegermann

Sound Design
Jailen Ellis

Lighting Design
Jacob Snodgrass & Kaili Story

Original Costume Design
Fernando Hernandez

Costumes re-created by
Stephanie Cluggish, with assistance from Jocelyn Garcia

About Love Letters to CHI-IL
This work is a love letter to our city, calling it to be a city that SHOWS UP for all of its residents. The vocabulary of the work is rooted in Sanders-Ward’s Afro-contemporary technique that fuses Dunham-based modern with Chicago style house dance. The work was originally commissioned by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and premiered in 2017 at the Pritzker Pavilion by the members of  Red Clay Dance Company.  

Trio A

Choreographer
Yvonne Rainer

Yvonne Rainer (Choreographer) is a dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and writer. She was a co-founding member of Judson Dance Theater in 1962 and is one of the most influential artistic figures of the last 50 years. Rainer has received a MacArthur Fellowship, two John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships, a Wexner Prize, and the Distinguished Artist Lifetime Achievement Award from the College Art Association. Retrospective exhibitions of Rainer’s work have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art New York, Museum Ludwig Cologne, Getty Research Institute, Raven Row London, Irish Museum of Modern Art, and Dia Art Foundation.

Transmitter
Elliot Gordon Mercer

Elliot Gordon Mercer (Transmitter) is an ACLS Fellow in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. He is an authorized transmitter of Yvonne Rainer’s dance repertoire. Elliot’s research, teaching, and creative practice investigate the intersections of dance and visual art, with an emphasis in postmodernism, feminist art, and queer theory. He received a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Theatre and Drama from Northwestern University.

Dancers
Fabien Maltais-Bayda (Dancer) is a PhD student in English and Theater and Performance Studies. Most recently, he made the dance work Terraform 1 [After Nina, Felix, and Jordan] (2022) during UChicago's September Lab in Performance as Research, in collaboration with Clara Nizard. His writing on dance can be found in ASAP/J, C Magazine, Canadian Art, Canadian Theatre Review, The Dance Current, esse, and Momus.

Jenny Harris (Dancer) is a PhD student in Art History and a graduate research fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work explores intersections of visual art, dance, and performance, and histories of craft and decoration in 20th century art. Prior to arriving at UChicago, she worked at The Museum of Modern Art.

Clara Nizard (Dancer) is a jointly-affiliated PhD student in TAPS and English. Their research considers movement, motion, and mobility in the long 20th century. They are a poet, facilitator and performer who has shown creative work in the UK, US, Canada and France.

Michael Stablein Jr. (Dancer) is a joint-PhD student in Theater and Performance Studies and English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. He holds a BFA in Performance from Florida State University and an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University of New York.

Thursday 7:30pmTrio A: Fabien Maltais-Bayda, Clara Nizard, Michael Stablein Jr.
I
n the Midnight Hour: Elliot Gordon Mercer

Friday 7:30pm: Trio A: Jenny A Harris, Fabien Maltais-Bayda, Clara Nizard
In the Midnight Hour: Jenny Harris

Saturday 2pm: Trio A: Jenny Harris, Fabien Maltais-Bayda, Michael Stablein Jr.
In the Midnight Hour: Jenny Harris 

Saturday 7:30pm: Trio A: Fabien Maltais-Bayda, Clara Nizard, Michael Stablein Jr.
In the Midnight Hour: Jenny Harris 

Music: 
The Chambers Brothers

Lighting Design 
Kaili Story

About Trio A
Trio A was created in 1965 by Yvonne Rainer and premiered at Judson Memorial Church in New York.  Rejecting the performance conventions of ballet and modern dance, Rainer sought to distill dance to its seemingly most neutral form by eliminating discernable choreographic phrasing, narrative, and virtuosity. Trio A is comprised of a series of abstract gestures and geometric movements that progress in a state of continuous motion. In 1968 the dance was presented as a solo to the Chambers Brothers’ "In the Midnight Hour." Rainer is a leading figure in postmodern art, and Trio A continues to be presented by major art museums internationally as both a live performance and dance film.

Walk On (excerpts)

Choreographer
Robyn Mineko Williams

Robyn Mineko Williams (Choreographer) Robyn Mineko Williams is a director, interdisciplinary artist and producer. She works and creates within the lanes and intersections of performance, design, culture, and place.

Robyn’s work has been presented at Kennedy Center, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, the Joyce Theater, MCA Chicago and more. Commissions include choreographies for Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Malpaso Dance Company, Charlotte Ballet among others. In tandem with her creations for concert and stage, Robyn works as a creative director and movement consultant on an array of projects including immersive experiences, film, installation, pop-up performances and music videos. She was named by Dance Magazine in 2014 as one of “25 to Watch” and is a Princess Grace Foundation-USA Fellowship grant recipient.

In 2015, Robyn founded Robyn Mineko Williams and Artists (RMW&A) with a mission to collaborate with a variety of dynamic artists to make and present an innovative body of interdisciplinary performance, most of which is public, immersive or malleable in form. She’s fascinated with the blending of mediums and elements to find newness and observing the works as they evolve and find new purpose or meaning with time, space and the people engaging with them. Collaborations include projects with Manual Cinema, Califone, Finom (aka Ohmme), Lululemon, Verger, Kyle Vegter, the Second City, Mike Gibisser, Brian Case, Alex Grelle, Alicia Walter, and. Aitis Band.

Robyn is currently on faculty at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and has taught and set work at Point Park University, UNCSA, USC, University of Iowa, University of Chicago, Western Michigan University and UCLA Long Beach.


Assistant Stager
Kevin J Shannon

Dancers
Ariana Baginski (Dancer) 
is a fourth-year Molecular Engineering major on the Bioengineering track and TAPS minor. She has been dancing since the age of 2 across many styles including ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary. She currently dances and choreographs for UChicago MAYA so you may have recently seen her in MAYA's Winter Showcase, Through Nature. Outside of dance, she also enjoys working with University Theater, doing tae kwon do, and crocheting baby blankets despite not knowing many babies. She would like to thank Julia, Robyn, and Kevin for creating this wonderful opportunity and trusting her to participate. Enjoy the show!! :)

Gabrielle Berman (Dancer) is a fourth-year Biological Sciences major. She has danced with UBallet and UChicago Maya since autumn of her first year in the college. She is very excited to perform and thrilled to have had this opportunity to work with such amazing choreographers and dancers!

Josette Chang (Dancer) is a fourth-year Business Economics major and TAPS minor. She has trained in ballet-based styles since childhood and now co-directs UChicago Maya Dance Company. She peaked in high school reaching the quarterfinals on America's Got Talent and making a halftime appearance with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She looks forward to this last hurrah before retiring as a washed-up alumnus of nearly every dance course UChicago has to offer.

Leighton Stanfill (Dancer) soloist and duet performer in Walk On, is a fourth year multimedia artist working across such disciplines as dance, fashion design, costuming, filmmaking, and digital fabrication. They have previously worked with choreographers FLOCK and Larry Keigwin and had their work installed in the Media Arts and Design Center. Currently, they are working on a film to present at American Dance Festival’s Film Festival as well as a fashion collection to be presented at the MAAD Expo in May.

Judy (Jiabao) Wang (Dancer) is a second-year student double majoring in Global Studies and Business Economics. She loves all types of dance and is involved in two dance groups on campus. She is the current assistant director of UChicago Maya Dance Company and a member of Ex-Crew. Judy started dancing when she was five. She was trained in competitive Chinese traditional dance and contemporary dance. She started hip-hop in college and has been loving it ever since. Judy’s passion for dance has led her to explore beyond UChicago, she has participated in both UCLA and NYU Tisch’s dance residency programs as a visiting student. Judy’s favorite thing about dance is the people. She loves all her friends she dances with and has been enjoying her experience as a dancer because of the amazing people she surrounds herself with.

Thursday 7:30pm: Josette Chang, Leighton Stanfill, Judy Wang
Friday 7:30pm: Ariana Baginski, Josette Chang, Leighton Stanfill 
Saturday 2pm: Ariana Baginski, Gaby Berman, Leighton Stanfill
Saturday 7:30pm: Josette Chang, Leighton Stanfill, Judy Wang

Music
Roy Orbinson, Walk On from the album Many Moods (Remastered 2015)
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, Eulogy from the Album Stranger Things 

Original Lighting Design 
Brandon Washington

Lighting re-created by
Kaili Story

Costume Design
Stephanie Cluggish

Assistant Costume Design
Jocelyn Garcia

About Walk On
Walk On is about the imaginative process of each individual artist and how they find themselves in the piece in an authentic way. Each time the artists take on the movement it changes and evolves in ways that are unknown. From this place they find a truly original and expressive way to communicate. Walk On was commissioned by Ballet Idaho, premiered November 1, 2019 at Boise State University Special Events Center, Boise, ID.

In the Mix

Choreographers
Daniel "BRAVEMONK" Haywood & Kelsa "K-Soul" Rieger-Haywood

 

Daniel "BRAVEMONK" Haywood (Choreographer) is an artist, visionary, b-boy, host/emcee and educator based in Chicago. As a cultural ambassador and leader in the Hip-Hop community he has regularly served as a guest artist throughout the US and internationally: choreographing, performing, hosting, judging, and teaching. His credits include danceGathering in Lagos, Nigeria, the International Cultural Festival of Contemporary Dance in Algiers, The Hip-Hop Theater Festival at the MCA, the movie Dreams released by Lionsgate Films, and a feature in the anthology Black Theater Is Black Life: An Oral History of Chicago Theater and Dance, 1970-2010. As a Master of Ceremonies BRAVEMONK has kept the energy hype while managing the flow and vibe of large-scale events including: Juste Debut U.S.A. Qualifiers in Washington, D.C. (2018 & 2019), Red Bull B.C. One (Chicago Cypher 2014), Red Bull Dance Your Style Chicago Qualifiers (2021 & 2022), Dance Out Vol. 4 (Purdue University 2018), Chicago Dance Makers Forum (2021 Awards Celebration), Embarc Chicago (Variety Spectacular 2022; Annual Gala & Fundraising event) & Windy City Throwdown (2023) presented by Snipes. BRAVEMONK was also a founding contributor and co-host of Power Style Radio (2013-2018).

BRAVEMONK’s movement vocabulary is rooted in Original Manifestational “Black” American urban vernacular dance forms including Breaking, Hip-Hop freestyle + social dances and House. He also draws on his training in martial arts and other embodied Afro-diasporic movement languages. BRAVEMONK is a member of Chicago’s legendary and internationally recognized breaking crew Phaze II Crosstown Crew (est. 1982) and co-founding Artistic Director of BraveSoul Movement. BRAVEMONK is currently on faculty at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago since 2017, where he is also a Fellow on the Antiracism Transformation Team since its inception in 2021. He has taught and set work at many other prestigious institutions including Hubbard Street Dance, Beloit College, Kennesaw State University, Western Michigan University, is consistently brought in to teach at the University of Chicago, and in 2017 he was recipient of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award. He made NewCity’s print magazines Players 50 (Top 50 leaders of Chicago’s theater, dance, opera and comedy culture) 2018 & 2023 list of who really performs for Chicago right now. BRAVEMONK has continued to develop his interests & involvement in the areas of media, technology, entrepreneurship, social impact, wellness & community along with his passions & artistry in martial arts, acting, voice over, music production, song writing & recording. He has played the character “Basilio” (since 2018) in The Rosina Project, a Hip-Hopera developed and produced by The Chicago Fringe Opera & BraveSoul Movement, and was cast/appeared as a character in an episode of Fox/Disney television series The Big Leap, and as a Voice Over Actor for characters Hu Yi, Du Yi & Lu Yi in the upcoming fanimated series titled Rise of the Last Dragon.

Kelsa “K-Soul” Rieger-Haywood (Choreographer) is a culturally responsive educator, dance artist and curator.  Kelsa’s experience in community and social justice organizing is infused in all areas of her work.  Her movement training comes primarily from social and underground street dance spaces, including House and Hip-Hop, and also draws on an array of other embodied trainings: gymnastics, capoeira, samba, salsa, bachata, and modern dance.  Kelsa’s dancemaking investigates improvisation as performance and celebrates the rawness, exuberance, individuality and deep sense of community embedded in Afrodiasporic street and social dance forms.  She has performed and presented work locally and internationally, including at the Pivot Arts & Physical Theater Festivals (Chicago, IL), danceGathering (Lagos, Nigeria), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), B.Supreme (London, UK), B-girl Be (Minneapolis), J.U.I.C.E. Hip-Hop Dance Festival (Hollywood), Constellation/ Links Hall and Pritzker Pavilion (Chicago).  A prominent focus of Kelsa’s work is building reciprocal collaboration and meaningful exchange between Hip-Hop and the academy.  She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Instruction at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and Curator of The B-SERIES, a biannual festival and co-curricular program celebrating Hip-Hop & street dance culture at the College since 2013. Kelsa is also a Fellow of Columbia's Antiracist Transformation Team, Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Hip-Hop Studies Minor, a member of the internationally known street-dance crew, Venus Fly, and Co-Artistic Director of BraveSoul Movement.  Kelsa holds a bachelor degree in sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master of urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Dancers
Ryan Adzaho (Dancer) I am a first year undergraduate student at University of Chicago and majoring in psychology. I love dancing and I hope you enjoy!

Josette Chang (Dancer) is a fourth-year Business Economics major and TAPS minor. She has trained in ballet-based styles since childhood and now co-directs UChicago Maya Dance Company. She peaked in high school reaching the quarterfinals on America's Got Talent and making a halftime appearance with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She looks forward to this last hurrah before retiring as a washed-up alumnus of nearly every dance course UChicago has to offer.

Jacqueline "Jak" Kromash, they/she (Dancer) is a second-year medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. They began their training at Chicago Multicultural Dance Center where they performed later with the Hiplet company. Jak is a certified yoga instructor and currently dances with Team Jukeboxx Mas Band and Movement Revolution Dance Crew, where they have been a member since 2020.

Laura Tutondele Mahaniah (Ensemble) is a third-year at UChicago studying TAPS, Anthropology and Linguistics. She is a member of Groove Theory (UChicago's only freestyle hip hop crew) and Ex Crew, as well as an avid attendant of TAPS workshops and weekly classes. Laura Tutondele has also worked on a variety of UT and Dean's Men productions as an actor, director and dramaturg. Her current projects include the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (research assistant), Beshrew Me! (research assistant), Be More Chill (Choreographer) and The Physicists on Silks (Director, Production Manager). Follow her artistic journey on instagram at @lauratutondele.

Sage Martinez (Dancer) is a student at the University of Chicago. 

Elasah (Ela) Quinn (Dancer) is a student at the University of Chicago. 

Kate Shchukina (Dancer) is a student at the University of Chicago. 

Jalen Sutton (Dancer)
 is a second year Gender and Sexuality Studies and Theater and Performance Studies Major. They are a former captain of the UChicago cheer team and an active member of the Le Vorris and Vox Circus club. Jalen also enjoys reality television in all forms and is a producer of Survivor Chicago.

My Vuong (Dancer) is an international student from Hanoi, Vietnam, and a first-year MPP student at the Harris School of Public Policy. Since getting to UChicago, My has continued her love for learning and creating choreography with EX Crew. She has also recently gotten into hip-hop freestyle at Groove Theory. Learning from BraveSoul and everyone in In the Mix has been an inspiring, valuable experience for My's freestyle as well as her understanding of hip-hop culture and community.

Judy Wang (Dancer) is a second-year student double majoring in Global Studies and Business Economics. She loves all types of dance and is involved in two dance groups on campus. She is the current assistant director of UChicago Maya Dance Company and a member of Ex-Crew. Judy started dancing when she was five. She was trained in competitive Chinese traditional dance and contemporary dance. She started hip-hop in college and has been loving it ever since. Judy’s passion for dance has led her to explore beyond UChicago, she has participated in both UCLA and NYU Tisch’s dance residency programs as a visiting student. Judy’s favorite thing about dance is the people. She loves all her friends she dances with and has been enjoying her experience as a dancer because of the amazing people she surrounds herself with.

Jingwen Zhang (Dancer) is a fourth-year Mathematics and Political Science double major in the College. She started street dance four years ago. Her main style is popping, while she is also interested in house. She joined Groove Theory, UChicago's only freestyle hip hop dance crew, as a first year, and has been performing with the crew since then.

Sound Design
DJ Vader

Lighting Design
Kaili Story

Costume Design
Stephanie Cluggish

Assistant Costume Design
Jocelyn Garcia

About In the MixIn the Mix is a process-oriented work, an exploration of the deep sense of connection that is found in Afrodiasporic street and social dance spaces: Connection with the music, the relationship between the movers and the deejay, connection with one another, with our internal impulses and with Spirit!  We began by teaching some vocabulary, phrasing and movement aesthetics/concepts that come out of hip-hop and house dance spaces.  And then spent most of our time working improvisationally with these tools: playing with freestyle concepts to build "solo" practice in relationship to community, and building skills around composing together as an ensemble in the moment. This is a HUGE number of tasks and skills to be learning, building and paying attention to in such a short span of time: 8-weeks!  We've been blown away by these dancers ability to 'get it,' to take risks, and to build trust with one another.  We are grateful to have the amazing DJ Vader as the live composer of music, and collaborator in the space.  And we are super excited give you the opportunity to witness the process we have built collectively over the last 8 weeks.

Production Team

Stage Manager
Olivia Ash

Assistant Stage Manager
Eleni Lefakis
Oswald Avile

Costume Design
Stephanie Cluggish

Costume Design Assistant
Jocelyn Garcia

Costume Shop Manager
Nathan Rohrer

Lighting Design
Kaili Story

Light Board Operator
Crystina Windham

Sound Design
Hannah Foerschler

Sound Board Operator
Sana Fessuh

Production Manager
Brian Maschka 

Assistant Production Manager
Lena Maghraoui

Technical Director
Ben Caracello

Props Manager
Jenny Pinson

Director of Performance
Devon de Mayo

Director of Dance
Julia Rhoads