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• Dance at Illinois’ 2025-26 season, Black on Black: A Celebration of Black Dance, highlights the impact, diversity, and innovation of Black dance artistry through a series of masterclasses, performances, lectures, and public events that engage our campus and local communities.
– Play + Wellness = Joy: a community gathering at Gallery Art Bar, led by guests Roxi Victorian and faculty: Alexandra Barbier and Tyesha Lewis.
– The Language of Katherine Dunham Lecture with April Berry at Krannert Center
– Dr. Joselli Deans will present a lecture on the history and importance of Black representation in American ballet, with emphasis on Black dancers and choreographers who helped the form become what it is today at the Independent Media Center (IMC) in March 2026.
– Historian, Isaiah Harris presents an interactive lecture-demonstration on Roller Dancing in the Black community at Skateland Savoy, with music provided by local DJs. April 2026
– The department has engaged with our black alumni, highlighting accomplishments and offering dialogue between our faculty, staff and students. Alumni guests have included Mariam Thiam, Danzel Thompson Stout, Jeremy Taylor, Leslie Cuyjet, Angie Pittman, among others.
– Dance at Illinois has established a community engagement advertising agreement with local radio station, Illinois Soul, whose mission amplifies Black voices, music, and culture throughout central Illinois and online, with the power of public media.
• Concerts: Dance at Illinois offers complimentary tickets for their mainstage productions to local area studios and community organizations, including the dance team at Urbana High School, Art in Motion, CU Ballet, Urbana Fine Arts Center, Tracy Dace/DREAAM (Driven to Reach Academic Achievement for Males) and Associate Director, Erin Tarr of CUSF (Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation).
• Curricular Engagement: Dance at Illinois creates opportunities for our dance major and minor students to interact with local schools throughout the Champaign Urbana community.
– The Repertory Company, made up of first-year dance majors, travel to local area schools to present dance lecture-demonstrations each spring. Performance locations have included Dr. King Elementary, Franklin Middle School, Leal Elementary School, Barkstall Elementary School, the Child Development Laboratory (CDL) School and others.
– The Teaching Dance DANC 350 class, led by DAI faculty, has relationships with local area schools, bringing dance education to our greater community, including masterclasses at Central High School, University High School, among others.
• Masterclasses:
Dance at Illinois faculty continue to teach masterclasses within the Champaign Urbana community, including:
– Art in Motion Dance Studio
– Urbana Fine Arts Center
– CU Ballet
– Champaign Park District
• Summer Intensives for professionals and high school students:
The department offers community engagement opportunities during the summer months, focusing on dance intensives for professionals and young adults 18+, as well as the department’s annual High School Summer Intensive:
– 2023: Cunningham Summer Intensive with Silas Riener and Paige Cunningham Caldarella
– 2024: Umfundalai Summer Intensive with Dr. Kemal Nance
– 2025: Katherine Dunham Summer Intensive with April Berry
– 2025: The Experimental Dance Film Intensive with Laura Chiaramonte, Joshua Pridemore, Jenny Olyallon Koloski and Matt Harsh.
• RSO engagement
Dance at Illinois provides space rental opportunities for Registered Student organizations that focus on dance /movement, including
– Harmony Ballet
– Vitality Dance Team
– Dance2xs
– Delaney Lane and Urbanite groups
• Dance at Illinois faculty continue to engage with our surrounding communities with personal and professional development.
– Jennifer Monson: ILANDing workshops: a collaborative artistic team has been offering Spanish workshops to Spanish-speaking families, in locations including Anita Purves Nature Center and local area schools. This engagement opportunity creates space for families from Latin America and the Caribbean to connect with each other.
– Anna Sapozhnikov’s Good House Keep brought together dance and architecture, celebrating local area architects and the history of midcentury modern design. Partnerships with Krannert Art Museum and The Urbana Arts and Culture program highlighted this project within our community, including performances at Krannert Art Museum in conjunction with the exhibit: Making Place for the Arts at Home, as well as an outdoor immersive event at Carle Park in Urbana, entitled Erlanger After Dark.
– Health and Wellness specialist, Nicole Marini, conducted a pilot yoga program at the Champaign County Jail, a partnership led by head of the Department of Dance, Sara Hook, and program coordinator at the jail, Celeste Blodgett.
– Dancing with the CU Stars: Our faculty, staff and graduate students participate and are regularly featured in the largest fundraising event for the Don Moyer Boys & Girls entitled Dancing with the CU Stars.
– The department has partnered with Urbana Dance Company and Urbana Dance Festival, with some of our students and faculty performing in their programming/events.