Chicago Human Rhythm Project Sets 25th Anniversary Season

Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP), which builds community through American tap and contemporary percussive arts in world-class, innovative performance, education and outreach programs, celebrates 25 years with a season combining successful annual programs and the debut of a new, multi-venue Chicago Rhythm Fest.

"We've grown from a two-day festival and single performance in 1990 into the first year-round presenter of American tap in the U.S. and the largest institution in the world dedicated to its preservation and evolution. We remain a mission-driven organization devoted to using American tap and the rhythmic arts to educate, inspire and foster social reconciliation-and 25 years later, the work has just begun," said CHRP Founder and Director Lane Alexander. "But we haven't done it alone: anything we have accomplished has happened in partnership with passionate artists, volunteers, students, enthusiasts, donors, teachers and administrators."

Season highlights

CHRP's 2014-15 season encompasses a range of events, from intimate showcases to the debut of a multi-venue spring event, the Chicago Rhythm Fest:

• August 2, 2014 - The 25th season officially began with the last concert of the 24th annual Rhythm World summer festival at the MCA Chicago.
• October 7, 2014 - JUBALEE! Gala at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion honors Patti Eylar and Charlie Gardner with the JUBA! Award for Lifetime Contributions to Culture and Community and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation with the JUBA! Award for Extraordinary Commitment to Community and Culture.
• November 27, 2014 - CHRP marches with hundreds of young tap dancers in the annual McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Parade on State Street.
• December 10, 2014 - Holiday Rhythms performance takes place at the Jazz Showcase.
• February 12-15, 2015 - Winter Tap Jamboree of master classes, Tap Scholar auditions and more takes place at the American Rhythm Center (ARC) at the Fine Arts Building.
• March and April 2015 - The debut of the Chicago Rhythm Fest begins with a series of mini-performances, lecture demonstrations, panel discussions and free classes in several Chicago neighborhoods featuring a variety of Chicago artists and companies.
• May 6, 2015 - The culminating performance of the Chicago Rhythm Fest offers a showcase of Chicago artists as well as the return of Argentina's Che Malambo at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.
• July 6-August 2, 2015 - The 25th annual Rhythm World summer festival of tap and percussive dance takes place at the ARC, MCA Chicago, Jazz Showcase, Jones College Prep and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion; the fifth year of a five-year international focus (Canada, Japan, Brazil, Europe) will spotlight Chicago and U.S. artists.

In addition, CHRP's ongoing programs continue, including its acclaimed lecture demonstration We All Got Rhythm at Chicago-area K-12 schools, in collaboration with Urban Gateways; in- and after-school outreach programs at Paul Revere, Willa Cather and Dewey elementary schools; daily classes at the American Rhythm Center in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building; an after-school program through After School Matters, taking place at the ARC; and a new after-school children's conservatory with two tracks of study: "Space Makers" (spatial forms rooted in ballet) and "Time Travelers" (rooted in ancient percussive dance traditions and contemporized in American culture).

"Our work has truly just begun," Alexander said. "During the next 25 years, we will focus on qualitative evolution as much as quantitative growth, with an increased appreciation for what can be accomplished in a single moment of inspiration as well as through perseverance over time. We will seek to affect more people's lives through dynamic performances and personal experiences that reaffirm and challenge, through intimate and shared learning moments that enlighten and confound and through lifelong participation and engagement in the rhythmic arts that fosters well-being, individual creativity, personal growth and new community."

For more information about Chicago Human Rhythm Project's 25th anniversary season, visit chicagotap.org.

Photo: Cristiano Prim