Margi Cole Awarded Omi Dance Residency

Margi Cole, founder and artistic director of The Dance COLEctive (TDC), has been awarded a 2018 Art Omi: Dance Residency, joining nine other artists from around the world participating in a creative exchange July 16-August 6, 2018 at Art Omi's campus in the Hudson Valley, north of New York City.

"I am very honored to be selected and included in such a diverse, interesting and accomplished group of artists," said Cole. "I am also proud to represent the United States and the Chicago dance community at large. What a great gift to have three weeks of creative exploration and peer exchange. I can't wait!"

Art Omi: Dance residents experience each other's creative process and the freedom to play in this program. The emphasis is not on a performance product, but rather a process of experimentation and collaboration. Art Omi provides resources that dancers and choreographers often lack: space, time and other artists with whom to work. The result is a model of creative process and community building that envisions consequences for the participants beyond the sphere of art making. Two informal public events give residents the opportunity to share their work: a Dance Salon on July 21 and a Dance Showing onAugust 4.

Art Omi is a nonprofit arts organization with residency programs for international artists, writers, translators, musicians, architects and dancers. Art Omi believe that exposure to internationally diverse creative voices fosters tolerance and respect, raises awareness, inspires innovation and ignites change. By forming community with creative expression as its common denominator, Omi creates a sanctuary for the artistic community and the public to affirm the transformative quality of art. Joining Cole in the 2018 Dance Residency program are artists from Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Senegal, South Korea and the U.S. A complete list of bios is available at artomi.org/residencies/art-omi-dance/2018.

Margi Cole, founder and artistic director of The Dance COLEctive, received a BA in dance from Columbia College Chicago and an MFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has taught for several educational and professional organizations nationally and internationally and performed with many well-known choreographers and companies. In 2011, Cole participated in the Deborah Hay Solo Commissioning Project. She has received two Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships, a 2005 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award, two Individual Arts Program Creative Project Grants from Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and an American Marshall Memorial Fellowship. Active in the Chicago dance community, Cole has served as a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Consortium Member, on grant panels, in public forums and currently on the board of See Chicago Dance. Cole is on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, where she has served as a lecturer and associate chair and is currently the series program manager of the Dance Presenting Series.

The Dance COLEctive, created in 1996, explores fresh approaches and unexpected twists by making and performing dance via solo and collaborative initiatives. TDC supports and advances the creative vision and curiosity of its artistic director, Margi Cole, as well as partnering artists. Dedicated to teaching and mentorship, TDC motivates and nurtures the next generation of artists in the studio and beyond.

For more than 20 years, The Dance COLEctive (TDC) has aspired to challenge assumptions about how dance is presented, through the use of cutting-edge choreography, innovative collaborations and creative, site-specific works. TDC's 20th anniversary in 2016 was a significant benchmark that distinguished the company as a Chicago institution. Throughout the years, the all-female company, comprising mostly emerging artists, has contributed to the support of more than 150 collaborating artists and organizations including locally and nationally recognized choreographers, dancers and other artists. TDC has produced more than 80 works, including those created by Margi Cole, guest choreographers and TDC company members. For more information, visit margicole.com/the-dance-colective/.

The Dance COLEctive is supported by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Rivendell Foundation, Lakeside Bank and many generous individuals.

The Dance COLEctive returns to the stage this fall with "REboot," a concert program produced in collaboration with Third Way Projects, featuring three world premieres by Chicago choreographers September 14-16 at 7 p.m. at Dovetail Studios, 2853 W. Montrose, Chicago. For more information, visit margicole.com/events/reboot/.

Photo of Margi Cole by Eric Olson

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