Dance Free-4-All! American Rhythm Center Hosts Free Classes June 8-14

The American Rhythm Center (ARC), the innovative, collaborative dance/arts facility operated by the Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP), invites Chicagoans to kick off summer with a DANCE Free-4-All,a week of free dance classes on the third floor of the historic Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. The event takes place June 8-14, 2015. The DANCE Free-4-All features free classes for all ability levels in a range of genres and styles, including tap, modern, ballet, Zumba, flamenco, musical theatre, capoeira, West African, hip hop, Afro-contemporary, break dancing, soul swing, Bollywood, Tai Chi, parent-child classes and more. Teaching the classes are professionals representing the ARC’s diverse community partners and other affiliated groups, including Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Kalapriya Center for Indian Performing Arts, Ayodele Drum & Dance, Calm Chicago, Taoist Tai Chi Society of the USA, DMX Dance Company, Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, Esoteric Dance Project, Gang of Toes, Natya Dance Theatre, Tamboula Ethnic Dance Company, Mandala Arts,M.A.D.D. Rhythms and Movement Revolution Dance Crew, as well as independent artists including Jimmy Payne Jr., Tammy Mader, Matt Crowle, Charles “Poppin’ Chuck” Bledsoe, Sarita Smith Childs and more. The ARC is Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s collaborative initiative to provide a shared, affordable and sustainable education, rehearsal and administrative facility for small and mid-sized Chicago arts organizations, which also serves as an incubator for emerging companies and independent artists. The aim is to offer diverse, high-quality dance and movement classes to the general public while centralizing the education programs, rehearsal space and administrative offices of several core groups. The session of summer classes begins June 8, 2015 with the week-long Free-4-All, then continues through August 16. Also, on June 12, the ARC will host its monthly Tap Jam, which takes place on the second Friday of each month. MADD Rhythms’ Bril Barrett hosts the June Tap Jam. Tap Jams are open to the public. No prior experience is necessary. Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Summer DANCE Free-4-All takes place Monday-Sunday, June 8-14 at the American Rhythm Center at the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave., 3rd floor, Chicago. For information or an updated class schedule, visit arcchicago.org or call 312-922-1272. Photo: Lane Alexander teaching at the American Rhythm Center. Photo by Timothy Bowser.

Funding

CHRP’s ARC has raised more than $1.3 million to date as part of a multi-phased $2.2 million comprehensive start-up campaign. Major funding for capital, capacity and/or start-up operations has been provided by Elaine Cohen and Arlen Rubin, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, Charles Gardner and Patti Eylar, The Boeing Company, Northern Trust, The Jane Ellen Murray Foundation, Phil and Marsha Dowd, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and Pamela Crutchfield, with additional support from The MacArthur Fund for the Arts and Culture at Prince, Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development, the James. S. Kemper Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, matching funds from the Polk Bros. Foundation through IFF and many generous individuals. Pro bono contributions have been made by Jenner & Block LLP and Baxter Insurance.

Chicago Human Rhythm Project

For 25 years, Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP) has helped to foster the revival and nascent renaissance of American tap dance throughout North and South America, Australia, Europe and Asia. CHRP presents the oldest and largest annual festival of American tap and percussive dance in the world-Rhythm World-and has expanded through community outreach, commissioning the creation of new work, tap community development, innovative conferences for the field and a commitment to social reconciliation, economic justice and local investment. Unlike any other festival in the nation, the development of a local community has been fundamental to the mission of the organization. CHRP has consistently presented and promoted Chicago artists alongside visiting guest artists and has made a huge investment in the local dance community, working to make Chicago hospitable to sustainable, long-term careers in Chicago for percussive dance companies and soloists. CHRP has led the national and international tap movement by building an international network of performance venues that encompass preservation, presentation, education, innovation and investment. The Human Rhythm Project is dedicated to the recognition of tap dance as the American contribution to the millennia-old art of percussive dance and as a high art form alongside European ballet and modern dance. One of the most vibrant and creative artistic communities in the world today lives in the percussive dance community, and one of the most, if not the most, vibrant percussive dance community in the world exists in Chicago.

During the last 25 years, CHRP has educated and performed for millions of people; received an Emmy Award nomination, as well as national airings, for JUBA! Masters of Tap and Percussive Dance, which was co-produced with ITVS and WTTW/Channel 11; earned an NEA American Masterpieces grant administered by the Illinois Arts Council Agency; curated the first full-length tap concert in any of the Kennedy Center’s three largest theaters for a sold-out audience of 1,100 in the Eisenhower Theater; provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in tap dance scholarships to deserving, talented teens; and, most recently, led a collaborative effort to establish a shared dance/arts space in the center of the Chicago Cultural Mile: the American Rhythm Center. CHRP’s vision is to establish the first global center for American tap and percussive arts, which will create a complete ecosystem of education, performance, creation and community in a state-of-the-art facility uniting generations of diverse artists and the general public. For information, visit chicagotap.org.