Wills Glasspiegel and Brandon Calhoun

Footnotes was an animated projection focused on Chicago footwork, produced by artists and filmmakers Wills Glasspiegel and Brandon K. Calhoun, featuring original music by DJ Spinn, the Chicago Bucket Boys, Angel Bat Dawid, Elisha Chandler, and Amal Hubert from Hypnotic Brass Band. The projection featured footwork dancing from some of Chicago's leading footwork artists, including Sterling "Steelo" Lofton, Jamal "Litebulb" Oliver, Diamond Hardiman, and Crystal James.

Forging connections between the iconic architecture of Chicago and the musical heartbeat of the city, Footnotes followed the musicians and dancers as they built a new footwork track inspired by the classic blues song, “Sweet Home Chicago.” Hand-drawn animations by Calhoun emphasized the fact that Chicago footwork is both music and dance simultaneously. Footwork started to the sounds of house music on the West Side of Chicago in the 1980s.

The work was awarded Time Out Chicago’s Best in the City Award.

Wills Glasspiegel is a filmmaker, artist, and scholar from Chicago. His films have screened widely, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, MANA Contemporary and the Paris Philharmonic. Glasspiegel is part of The Era Footwork Crew and works as a creative director on IN THE WURKZ, an award-winning footwork performance by The Era. Glasspiegel has produced public radio segments for All Things Considered and Morning Edition and was recognized as a co-recipient of a Peabody Award in 2014 for his contributions to the public radio program Afropop Worldwide. He co- founded the arts and racial justice nonprofit, Open the Circle (otcprojects.org) in Chicago in 2017.

Brandon K. Calhoun is a footwork dancer, animator, and filmmaker from the South Side of Chicago. Calhoun first rose to prominence as a battle dancer in the competitive world of Chicago footwork. In 2014, he co-founded The Era Footwork Crew. As a filmmaker, his shooting, editing, and animation has helped define the look and feel of The Era across over a dozen videos. His animation of footwork dancing was featured in the VICE documentary Meet The Era. In 2020, Calhoun directed the short dance film, The Testament, which connects footwork to Black Lives Matters movement. As a footwork dancer, he has performed on stages across the world, from Kuwait to Mexico. He was featured alongside Chance the Rapper in the video for Clean Up.

DJ Spinn (aka Morris Harper) is the musical director of Footnotes. He has been making juke and footwork music in the Chicago area since he was a teenager growing up in the south suburbs of the city. He founded the Teklife record label with longtime partner, DJ Rashad. Spinn's classic dance anthems from the 90s and 2000s, including Bounce and Break Yo Back, are still regularly played on the radio and at parties in Chicago. Alongside his former partner DJ Rashad, who passed away several years ago, Spinn introduced footwork, a long-running underground Chicago tradition, to audiences and artists across the world.