Champaign, Ill. (WCIA)
Dance! The Performing Arts!
People sometimes do not realize we have a world class department of dance here at UIUC! People are often curious about the athleticism of dance as well as the range of expressive and transformative possibilities that Dance offers for both the participant and the audience.
We often get asked what kind of Dance do you do? Many kinds! We offer Hip Hop, Ballet, Numerous kinds of Contemporary Dance or Modern Dance, Ballet Folklorico, Umfundalai (a form of African Diaspora Dance) Tap, Ballroom and on and on! Our shows are professionally produced at the world renown Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
We have a new curriculum at Dance at Illinois that offers intensive study in numerous forms so our students become versatile and ready for careers in multiple sectors of the field. We also prioritize community belonging and engagement and educate students about the history and context of all the forms they study so that they understand how dance plays a part in social and political movements. Our faculty is an outstanding ensemble of experts who have won numerous wards (Bessies, Guggenhiem Fellowships, Doris Duke Grants, Illinois Arts Grants and on and on).
Tickets for our upcoming concert October Dance on October 13, 14, and 15TH at 7:30 PM are on sale right now at the Krannert Center Box office.
There is a distinctive international flavor to this concert. One of our new faculty members who is of Armenian descent and is an internationally known star of the Hip Hop Dance world will be performing a solo in this concert. A Dance graduate student from Korea has choreographed a dramatic solo on another graduate student from Puerto Rico. Haitian/Canadian choreographer and legendary performer Roxane D’O’Orleans Juste has made a stirring group work about displacement and resilience in community, a currently relevant subject as we hear about immigration issues and the war in Ukraine. And the concert ends with a celebratory Dance by Mexican American choreographer Alfonso Cervera. I have also made a work for this show inspired in part by the iconic American early reader series called Dick and Jane. This show features live music performed by current and former students of the School of Music and well as gorgeous media designs by Theater faculty member John Boesche.
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Dance Department:
907 1/2 West Nevada
Urbana, IL 61801
October Dance Performance:
Colwell Playhouse
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Urbana, IL