For the Books: A Preview of “Reclamation: The Spirit of Black Dance in Chicago” at Millennium Park

Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center’s Hiplet Ballerinas/Photo: Matt Karas

“I believe this will be in the history books.” While Princess Mhoon, director of the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project is directly speaking of “Reclamation: The Spirit of Black Dance in Chicago” at Millennium Park this Saturday, she was also clearly referring to the larger implications of the project. The CBDLP was founded three years ago by Logan Center for the Arts and the Joyce Foundation to bridge the vast funding gulf between high-profile, predominantly white dance companies and Black-led companies working in African and African American dance forms. Chicago positively teems with artists working in these forms: hip-hop, tap, jazz, West African and modern and contemporary companies grounded in African dance styles. Its streets gave birth to footwork, its clubs house music. Yet a 2019 study found that, in Chicago, over half of all dance funding went to only three companies and most professional dancers in the city earned less than $15,000 per year at their craft. The CBDLP made history by providing a just-under $400,000 bucket of funding for eight Chicago-based Black dance companies to stabilize, sustain and build their organizations. “Reclamation” will be the culminating performance of the initial three-year project, a showcase of the dance companies in the cohort along with a couple of special guests. But what the audience will see is the tip of the iceberg.

“We chose ‘Reclamation’ as our title as a statement that we are reclaiming our rightful place in history and this history can’t be erased, and the spirit of Black dance in Chicago is so celebratory,” Mhoon says. The eight CBDLP companies appearing in the program are women-led Ayodele Drum and Dance; the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center, the Hiplet technique of which blends ballet pointe work and hip-hop; contemporary-modern Deeply Rooted Dance Theater; youth-education-focused Forward Momentum Chicago; contemporary-jazz Joel Hall Dancers & Center; traditional African and African American companies Muntu Dance Theatre and Najwa Dance Corps; and African contemporary Red Clay Dance Company. They will be joined by tap company M.A.D.D. Rhythms and footwork crew Creation. Mhoon says that over 200 dancers will appear on stage over the course of the night. “It occurred to me that this is an important moment.” Mhoon, who holds a masters degree in history and specialization in Black dance in Chicago, would know.

The CBDLP will reboot in 2023, expanding to support eleven companies. History will mark the “Reclamation” program not as the conclusion of a one-off project, but the beginning of greater visibility and financial support for Black dance companies and Black dancers in Chicago for years to come. 

Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project’s “Reclamation: The Spirit of Black Dance in Chicago” at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, 201 East Randolph. Saturday, August 27, 6:30pm. Free. Tickets can be found here.