The Dance Center 50th Season Half Pass

Then, Now, Next—Celebrating 50 Years of Dedication to Sharing the Present Moment of Dance from January through May 2024

For the first time, all Dance Center concerts, including our exciting student and faculty works, will be part of the Dance Presenting Series season. Experience the full cycle of choreographic development through works by established, emerging, and aspiring choreographers and dancers.

As a 50th Season Half Pass Holder, you

- Save $50 over purchasing single tickets to each concert a la carte,

- Benefit from concierge-style Box Office services to reserve your preferred show dates,

- Enjoy opportunities to be in community with other dance enthusiasts at special pre- and post-show gatherings.

Box Office staff will contact Season Pass Holders via phone or email prior to each concert to reserve your preferred days and times.

All seating is general admission, and programming takes place at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S Michigan AVE, Chicago, IL 60605 unless otherwise indicated.

50th Season January -May Programming...

LUNCH WITH SONIA (Jan. 25-27, 2024) The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival returns to the Dance Center! NYC-based Loco7 Dance Puppet Theater makes their Chicago debut with Lunch with Sonia, using puppets, live actors, music, video and physical theatre to deal with the themes of life, love, and loss. To share the weight of this material, Loco7 will offer optional post-performance movement reflections for audience members.

B-Series 10th Anniversary Festival: B-Long, honoring and examining lineage and belonging in Hip-Hop & Street Dance culture + Show & Prove Hip Hop Studies Conference (Mar. 1-3, 2024) Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the B-Series with world-renowned headliners and judges LaTasha Barnes, Bionic Man and Mikey Disko! Co-curated by Daniel “BRAVEMONK” Haywood and Kelsa “K-Soul” Rieger-Haywood, the B-Series draws seasoned professionals and amateurs from around the country to engage in freestyle battles, cyphers, performances, workshops, and community-building activities.

THE JAZZ CONTINUUM (Mar. 7-9, 2024) We are thrilled to welcome multi-Bessie Award-winner LaTasha Barnes’s The Jazz Continuum to Chicago hard on the heels of acclaimed performances at the Kennedy Center, Bates Dance Festival, and more. The powerhouse collective of 18 dance and music explorers and DJ/Turntablist, with Music Direction by Grammy-Award-winning Illinois native Christopher McBride, showcases mind-bending musicality, spectacular athleticism, and boundless joy, reaching back nearly 100 years to make visible the connections between the past and today's Black dance expressions including Jazz, Lindy Hop, Hip-Hop, House, and other social dance forms. According to The New York Times, “the brilliance of LaTasha Barnes's The Jazz Continuum passes from each artists, like an electrical pulse, emanating into the audience and unapologetically invites them into it's joy-filled powerful and transformative space - an experience unlike any other and certainly not to be missed.”

SPRING FORWARD: Student Performance Night (Apr. 11-12, 2024) Be inspired by the soaring creativity of student choreographers collaborating with Theater lighting designers on original, brand new, short works. Engage with multi-media performances that break the boundaries of the typical stage and tap into the palpable energetic lift of early Spring.

CHICAGO ARTIST SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL (Apr. 19-20 & 25-27, 2024) Dive into the vibrancy of Chicago’s dance community with award-winning artists: dancemaker and poet J’Sun Howard, kinetic philosopher Ayako Kato, pop-fringe creator Erin Kilmurray, and artivist SJ Swilley. Experience their works in thoughtful, embodied conversation with one another as they activate and charge the full Dance Center as well as Grant Park’s Agora, A. Montgomery Ward Garden, and the lakefront. This two-weekend, must-see festival invites the audience on a multi-layered journey of discovery into solo, duet, and ensemble works by artists who have made Chicago their own and transformed it.

Re/VERB: Faculty Concert (May 2-3, 2024) Celebrate the innovative and diverse styles and aesthetics that capture the pluralism of the Dance Center. The acclaimed professional dance faculty, including revered improviser Lisa Gonzales, draw upon their deep knowledge of each student’s unique and individual spark to forefront the present moment in embodied practice.

FOMENT: Senior Capstone Concert (May 9-10, 2024) Discover next generation dancemakers: Lydia Jacobson, Joey Martinez, Gabby Sheets, and Seniyah Tribble! These four newly minted Bachelors of Fine Arts share their personal expressions of movement, building on their multi-year immersion in the many facets of dance as an ever evolving art form. The Dance Presenting Series is proud to invite you to witness these highly anticipated works and join us in closing out our 50th Season.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, United States