Turning 21 means changes for The Dance COLEctive

March 8, 2017

Photo By Eric Olson

Dear Friends:

Today, our 21st birthday, I want to share some news with you. Turning 21 is a pivotal transition, a rite of passage. Ultimately, it means you are getting older and expected to be more independent, enabling you to make informed decisions and forge ahead.

For the last several years I have been questioning the suitability of the organizational business models we have used in dance to support our creative process and growth - a model that is constantly under-resourced and over time has become more difficult to sustain.  Now more than ever, I think it is important to adapt and think about what one wants to do and how one does it in entrepreneurial ways.  I feel that it is my responsibility, as a practitioner and mentor, to not only share these ideas but to be an example of change.

With that in mind, The Dance COLEctive is transitioning to a new model. After 20 years of company leadership, I want to be more accountable to my own creative process and ensuing collaborations than I have been able to be in the past. In pursuit of this objective I have decided to no longer maintain and work with a company of dancers on a continuous basis but will “pick-up” dancers as I need them for specific projects. While this is not a new idea, it is a new way to work for me and for TDC.

I am turning my attention to a deeper investigation of solo and duet work, largely through collaboration with peer artists.  This focus will guide my activity for the next two years. Collaborating on a smaller scale is not new for me.  I have always pursued and thrived in the solo form, but I have not made it my artistic priority.  Moving in this direction acknowledges and advances the uniquely generative and collaborative nature of working with other artists on new creations.

Photo by Lisa DeShantz-Cook

The decision to transition has come after intensive soul searching, rigorous analysis, and careful planning. Those who have supported and believed in TDC’s work over the years - former dancers, funders, board members and my peers in Chicago’s dance community - have inspired this change. Through a process of intentional inquiry, you all have helped me better understand what TDC is, how it is perceived, and what makes it unique. Your generous and honest input has helped me reimagine a new future for my work and the work of TDC.

To be clear, the organization is not folding and I am not quitting.  TDC is evolving into a new model will enable me to expand my work in several different ways:

1. Developing a solo focused initiative: creating, commissioning and highlighting solo work
2. Creating new works to perform under the TDC banner, with other companies or in collaboration with other artists
3.  Increasing national and international teaching and creative residencies

This change will help me realize my desire not only to sustain but to nourish myself as a thinker, mover, creator and performer. 

I continue to be grateful for all of the collaborators, mentors, funders, board members (past and present), individual donors, and my peers, who have helped the company thrive for 20 years.  In particular, I want to thank the many dancers who have worked with me.   Because of you, I have had the great privilege to experiment, learn, fail, be inspired, create and grow into a mentor, teacher and choreographer.  I am very proud of all the work we have done together, and I could not have done any of it without you!

You can read more about this change, the new mission, the website and the project announcement here. Stay tuned for updates and opportunities as our 21st year begins! Looking forward to what is to come.

With gratitude,

Margi

It felt right. I felt lucky!

Liz & Shannon      Photo by William Frederking

This past May I graduated from Ohio University with a BFA in dance. With a degree in hand and most of my belongings packed up in my parents Subaru I made my way to Chicago.  With only a week of city livin’ under my belt I found my way to Margi’s Dance COLEctive Technique Week, at the end of which would be my first professional audition.  Getting back to technique and meeting so many wonderful people was such a great way to get me introduced to this city. I was excited about the promise of being a part of a company so soon in my career.
 

Not long after the call back I got the email that told me I would be an apprentice with the company.

It felt right.  I felt lucky!

It made me happy for the 17 year-old Liz that convinced her Mom she should be a dance major in college.

After a quick call to my family with a slight undertone of “I told you so”, I got ready for my first rehearsal.

Coming right out of a college program that valued the choreographic process, and building of the artistic voice, Margi’s work felt right at home. Discovering that my voice would be heard, even as an apprentice was an exciting venture. And finding a dance community that I could be a part of so soon was more than I could have hoped.

I dearly miss the group of dancers I left when I graduated. And in this -15 degree weather I am noticing now more than ever that I am no longer in the soft warm blanket that college had me wrapped up in. But The Dance COLEctive makes me feel supported and heard and warm.  I certainly didn’t expect to be a part of such a creative and open group of dancers so early on in my career in Chicago. Plus, knowing that I am following in the footsteps of many, many great women is something pretty exciting.
 

Submitted by TDC Apprentice, Liz Conway, February 19, 2015.

Thoughts on turning 18!

I was surfing the internet looking for its thoughts about turning 18 so that I could begin to shape my own ideas about it, and I ran across this:  18th Birthday Party Ideas: A Shared Wisdom Party. What a novel idea.

While the only real party will probably just be me having a quiet glass of wine I have been thinking a lot about TDC turning 18.  First, good god, where has all the time gone?  I can't even begin to calculate how many dancers, collaborators, dances, performances, hours in the studio or hours of administrative time devoted to maintaining the company.  Maybe this is an instance to implement a shared wisdom party. 

Time flies while you are having fun.  Enjoy every minute of what you love doing. 

While there are a great many successes prepare for failures and own them.

Relationships either be them brief or long lasting are ultimately tied to sustainability. 

Treat others the way that you want to be treated inside and outside of the creative process.  

Be proud but be humble. 

Honor the past and respect the present.

Look toward that future and be ready to adapt.  There is no other way to survive. 

It is virtually impossible to like every one of your peers fully and equally.  But, show them respect. In the end it creates a stronger community for everyone. 

Share your knowledge and resources generously with others.  It has the potential to circle back to you one way or another.

And, say thank you. 

I am truly grateful for all the dancers, choreographers, mentors, board members, funders, sponsors, donors, family members, friends, peers and audience members who have shared this journey with me and the company. I am humbled by this life I have been able to l carve out for myself in field of dance and in the city of Chicago. 

Thank you!

Submitted by Margi Cole, TDC Artistic Director on March 8, 2014.