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 ConcertsTuesday, 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.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 AwardsChicago 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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