Chicago Human Rhythm Project Presents The 28th Annual RHYTHM WORLD

Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP), presents the 28th annual summer festival of American tap and percussive dance, Rhythm World, featuring three generations of foot drummers including tap masters Dianne "Lady Di" Walker and Sam Weber, STOMP cast members, many of Chicago's finest including, Star Dixon and Martin "Tre" Dumas, and CHRP's Artist in Residence, Dani Borak leading Stone Soup Rhythms. Intensive educational programs will be offered in the Fine Arts Building and the American Rhythm Center, July 16-22. Performances take place July16-18, at the Jazz Showcase, Curtis Hall and the Polk Bros Performance Lawns at Navy Pier, with culminating concerts, JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance, on July 20 and 21, at the Studebaker Theater featuring a host of virtuoso soloists and ensembles showcasing a mix of audience favorites and world premieres.

JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance and Other Concerts

Monday, July 16, 7:30pm, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court. Opening night at Chicago's finest jazz club features some of the world's most renowned hoofers in an evening dedicated to improvisation with the Eric Hochberg Trio. Tickets are priced $10 - $35.

Tuesday, July 17, 6:30pm and 8:00pm, Curtis Hall, 10th floor, Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave. Two audience favorites, the student improv tournament, known as the "cutting contest," and the student showcase take place with faculty judges choosing the winners who may be invited to perform on one of the two weekend performances at the Studebaker Theater. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Wednesday, July 18, 6:30pm, Navy Pier Polk Bros Performance Lawns. In this outdoor setting, Rhythm World will present the Chicago premier of Jason Janas and his company, Co.MMIT and Charles Renato's company, CHR Project*. The program will also feature America's finest pre-professional companies from around the United States as a part of the Youth Tap Ensemble Conference including the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble and Footprints Tap Ensemble. This concert is free and open to the public.

Friday, July 20, 7:30pm, Studebaker Theater, Fine Arts Building. JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance. An evening packed with extraordinary foot drummers and percussive arts masters from around the globe sharing the stage - Superstars Caleb Teicher and Sam Weber join forces for a classic American tap duet; the amazing Ayodele Casel returns to Rhythm World with her extraordinary improvisational repartee; CHRP's Stone Soup Rhythms ensemble will premiere innovative, multi-dimensional choreography led by Dani Borak, Artist in Residence; and, virtuoso Cartier Williams will perform his newest show, Zigity Bop! with special guests Luke Hickey, Aqura Lacey, Tokumi Watanabe and Lacey Thomas.

Saturday, July 21, 7:30pm, Studebaker Theater, JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance. Another extraordinary evening unfolds with Star Dixon and Nico Rubio, who have grown from students of Rhythm World's Tap Scholars program to world-renowned tap artists in their own right. So good you will want to see them twice, Stone Soup Rhythms ensemble will premiere more new works by Dani Borak;
and finally, Rhythm World closes with a world premiere by Chicago's own all female tap company Rhythm ISS, co-founded by Idella Reed-Davis, Sarah Savelli and Sharon Rushing.

JUBA! tickets are priced $15 - $55 each night.

Check for more details and updates on our website as the festival approaches.

Tickets to the Jazz Showcase and both "JUBA!" performances will go on sale April 20 at chicagotap.org. Performances sell out every year, early purchase is advised. All programming is subject to change.

JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance, 2016
JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance, 2016

Rhythm World Education Programs at the Fine Arts Bldg. and American Rhythm Center, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

Rhythm World is directed by CHRP Founder and Director, Lane Alexander and CHRP Artist in Residence, Dani Borak. This annual summer festival features world renowned performers, choreographers and teachers who have led and transformed the field of American tap for five decades. CHRP is proud to shine a special spotlight on a new generation of dancers who have grown up with the inspiration of these great masters for more than a quarter century.

"This is the fourth year for CHRP's "Root and Branch" program which focuses on the dancers who studied with us 10, 15 or 20 years ago. These accomplished young artists have grown up and they are winning MacArthur Fellowship Awards (Michelle Dorrance), choreographing on Broadway and with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (Jared Grimes), performing in historic Broadway revivals (Lee Howard and Karissa Royster) and making new works that are revolutionizing our art form (Jumaane Taylor's Supreme Love and Zada Cheeks' Diabolus)," remarked Lane Alexander. "Most notably, one dancer, Dani Borak, our multi-year Artist in Residence, is providing new and fresh artistic direction for CHRP." In addition, former Tap Scholars and CHRP ensemble members who are returning to teach and/or perform this year include: Nico Rubio, Star Dixon, Megan Davis, Ja'Bowen Dixon, Time Brickey, Luke Hickey, and Sean Kaminski.

Tap Scholar Awards
Each year, CHRP awards thousands of dollars in scholarships to deserving, talented teens so they may participate in Rhythm World. This year, more than a dozen studentshave earned full or partial scholarships to study at Rhythm World. "These scholarships support CHRP's mission to build community by bringing together students from different backgrounds and places to meet their international peers and study with great and emerging masters," said Alexander.

Established in 1995 to honor the life of CHRP Co-Founder Kelly Michaels, the Rhythm World Tap Scholar Award program has provided more than $300,000 in financial aid to more than 300 talented, deserving young dancers from Chicago and throughout the United States as well as international exchange students.

Festival Education Programs, July 16-22
A STOMP intensive residency led by STOMP cast members, courses, workshops, conferences for the field and master classeswill featurespecial guests Dianne "Lady Di" Walker and Sam Weber, and our highly-respected faculty including Linda Sohl- Ellison, Monti Ellison, Lane Alexander, Bril Barrett, Dani Borak, Marty Bronson, Ayodele Casel, Ja'Bowen Dixon, Star Dixon, Martin "Tre" Dumas, Luke Hickey, Jason Janas, Sean Kaminski, Stacy Letrice, Charles Renato, Nico Rubio, Sarah Savelli, Caleb Teicher, and Cartier Williams.

Intensive Residency
The acclaimed cast of STOMP are back again to teach an exclusive STOMP Residency. This program will have students immersed in rhythm based learning with respect to body percussion, tap dance, found object rhythms, and musical composition. With STOMP's unique perspective and experience students will walk away seeing the world filled with rhythmic possibility.

Conferences for the field
Celebrating its 17th anniversary, CHRP's Youth Tap Ensemble Conference (YTEC) is the world's most comprehensive program available to pre-professional tap ensembles. Students work with masters on technique and improvisation, meet with specialists regarding related disciplines and learn new choreography. This year's YTEC choreography is from Jason Janas; the YTEC students will perform on Navy Pier's Polk Bros Lawns on July 18th.

The Teacher Certification Program is in its second year andcovers elements of tap history, repertory, pedagogy, physiology and music theory. The program is non-cumulative, meaning teachers may attend any year and receive a separate Certificate of Completion for each year. Teachers completing four consecutive years will receive a special Master Teacher Certification from CHRP.

Courses
Throughout the week we offer courses for students of all ages and levels. The Courses are for students aged 8 - 80 with classes ranging from intermediate to professional level! Join fellow tap dancers from around the world for four days of daily training to study and grow yourself as a percussive artist.
We also offer a program exclusively for our adult dancers who have never stopped dancing! Our Adult Program will be focused on dancers ranging from intermediate to fast beginner skill level. These classes, which are at the end of the work day, enable community practitioners and hobbyists to study with world renowned masters.

In addition to the adult program,we have our Kids Program which offers intermediate tap dancers aged nine through twelve a curriculum including oral and video history, tap technique classes, improvisation instruction and individual development of style and expressive ability.

Workshops
If you aren't tapped out, pun intended, at the end of the week, you will be able to immerse yourself with our master faculty in a 2.5 hr long workshop! The Workshops are set up so students will be able to delve deeper into Dianne Walker, Cartier Williams, Caleb Teicher, Dani Borak, Ayodele Casel or the members of STOMPs styles. Don't miss this rare opportunity to have a longer format class with these master faculty.

Masterclasses
Don't have time off during the week to join us? We have weekend masterclasses! Masterclasses are a little over an hour and have levels ranging from fast beginner to professional grade classes. Saturday classes will be taught by our visiting master faculty while Sunday will host teachers from Chi-town itself. These are one-time taught classes so feel free to drop in for one or all classes throughout the weekend.

To register, visit https://chicagotap.org/rhythm-world-2018/, call 312-542-CHRP (2477) or write to registration@chicagotap.org.

For complete Rhythm World information, visit chicagotap.org or call 312-542-CHRP (2477).

Chicago Human Rhythm Project
The Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP), has helped to foster the revival of American tap dance in Chicago. Through its leadership for three decades, CHRP has helped to support new tap organizations throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. CHRP presents the oldest and largest annual festival of American tap and percussive dance in the world-Rhythm World-and has expanded through community outreach, ongoing education programs in public elementary and high schools, commissions of new work, innovative conferences for the field and a commitment to social reconciliation and local investment. CHRP led the development of Chicago's shared dance/arts space, the American Rhythm Center, which offers daily dance classes for children, teens, adults and seniors and functions as a social enterprise and business development incubator for independent artists and small companies.

For nearly 30 years, CHRP has educated and performed globally for millions of people; received an Emmy Award nomination, as well as national airings, for JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance, which was co-produced with ITVS and WTTW/Channel 11; earned an NEA American Masterpieces grant administered by the Illinois Arts Council Agency; curated the first full-length tap concert in any of the Kennedy Center's three largest theaters for a sold-out audience of 1,100 in the Eisenhower Theater; provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in tap dance scholarships to more than 400 deserving, talented teens; and, most recently, led a collaborative effort to establish a shared dance/arts space in the center of the Chicago Cultural Mile: the American Rhythm Center (ARC). CHRP's vision is to establish the first global center for American tap and percussive arts, which will create a complete ecosystem of education, performance, creation and community in a state-of-the-art facility uniting generations of diverse artists and the general public. For information, visit chicagotap.org.

Funding
Rhythm World is made possible by support from the National Endowment for the Arts' Art Works, The Illinois Arts Council Agency and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Chicago Human Rhythm Project is supported by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago Free for All Fund, MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at Prince, The Joyce Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Dance USA/Engaging Dance Audiences, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Saints, US Bank, BMO Harris, Northern Trust Charitable Trust, DeKalb Community Foundation, Elaine Cohen and Arlen Rubin, Phil and Marsha Dowd, Charles Gardner and Patti Eylar, Jane Ellen Murray Foundation, The Oppenheimer Family Foundation, Joyce Chelberg, Lyon Family Foundation, The Weinberg Family Foundation,, Jeannette & Jerome Cohen Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas and Ingenuity's Creative Schools Fund.

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