Chicago Black Dance Legacy

ART on THE MART's 2023 summer season features a new commission by the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project, a multi-year project housed at the Logan Center at the University of Chicago that aims to uplift and strengthen the impact of Black dance in Chicago and beyond. The projection, titled The Big Bang: Movement Theory + the Black Dancing Body, will be on view nightly at 9pm CT from July 6 until September 13, 2023. 

The Big Bang: Movement Theory + the Black Dancing Body showcases original choreography from the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project's latest cohort. Told in three acts, the projection takes audiences on a journal of the Black experience in America by way of dance, juxtaposing dance forms that range from ballet, modern and tap to traditional African dance, Chicago-born footwork and more. 

Directed by Princess Mhoon, who leads the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project, The Big Bang: Movement Theory + the Black Dancing Body includes music by Chicago-based DJ Duane Powell, Sam Thousand and Steve "Miggedy" Maestro; projection design by new media artist Liviu Pasare; and cinematography & editing by Elizabeth Myles. 

Featured dance companies include: 

• The Chicago Multicultural Dance Center & Hiplet Ballerinas
• Deeply Rooter Dance Theater
• The Era Footwork Collective
• Forward Momentum Chicago
• Joel Hall Dancers & Center
• M.A.D.D. Rhythms
• Move Me Soul
• Muntu Dance Theatre
• NAJWA Dance Corps
• Praize Productions

To learn more about the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project and its members, visit ChicagoBlackDanceLegacy.org or follow on Instagram and Facebook.