Chicago Black Dance Legacy

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Archive

2023

The Big Bang: Movement Theory + the Black Dancing Body

Eye Icon Icon of an eye with lashes, opened if the projection is on view; closed if projection is archived.

Archive

2023

About the work

An image of the same Black female dancer is reproduced seven times, with the dancer in different poses. The image is projected onto a large art deco building along a river.

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: 

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