The Dance COLEctive announces a new direction

March 8, 2017
 
Contact: Jill Chukerman, jchuk@rcn.com, 773-392-1409

THE DANCE COLECTIVE ANNOUNCES NEW FOCUS, MISSION
Shift in Business Model and Structure Opens 

New Opportunities

Photo by Eric Olson

The Dance COLEctive (TDC), as it reaches its 21st birthday (March 8, 2017), announces a fundamental shift in its mission, organizational structure and artistic focus.

Founder and Artistic Director Margi Cole, in a desire to be more accountable to her creative process, has consulted with various stakeholders and is evolving the company as follows:

    •    Move from maintaining an ongoing ensemble of dancers to a project-based structure, hiring dancers as projects dictate, whether they are created and performed under the TDC banner, with other companies or in collaboration with other artists
    •    Engage in a solo-focused initiative during the next 18 to 24 months, during which Cole will dance and create/commission solos she intends for performance in a variety of traditional and site-specific settings
    •    Continue building a base of national and international residencies and mentoring opportunities for the development of new work and teaching

“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 has become more difficult to sustain,” Cole said. “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 it is my responsibility, as a practitioner and mentor, to not only share these ideas but also be an example of the power of change.”

Photo by William Frederking

Among the projects Cole is pursuing is the Solo Swap Project, a structured yet free-flowing peer-to-peer collaboration with another artist that provides a unique opportunity to share creative processes, knowledge and assets that result in the development of a distinct solo for each artist. This project aims to develop scalable work while expanding, exploring and deepening the participants’ work as artists. Throughout the creative process, artists move fluidly between the roles of performer and director/choreographer, building the work out of a collective curiosity and the spoken and movement dialogue emerging from the collaboration. The Solo Swap, appropriate for traditional or nontraditional spaces, allows the artists to form a partnership of mutual learning and take artistic risks at limited financial cost.

“Collaborating on a smaller scale is not new for me,” Cole noted. “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.”

Though the structure and focus of Cole’s activities is shifting, the overall artistic direction is an evolution of TDC’s history and primary work. “A hallmark of our work is our focus on the personal,” she described. “We value small audiences and small venues because they allow for a more pared-down, pointed experience with the audience that emphasizes intimacy. Site-specific performances allow TDC to explore how dance should be performed and where dance can be found, meeting people where they are—on a staircase, in a lobby, on the sidewalk. Audiences have choices they don’t typically expect: where they choose to position themselves to view the performance, how they interact with the work and how long they decide to be engaged.”

This change in structure also allows Cole to continue an important aspect of her professional work and leadership as an artist: mentoring other artists locally, through her faculty position at Columbia College Chicago, as well as nationally and internationally.

“We are optimistic about our potential,” Cole stated. “Given our longevity and history of collaboration, we have no doubt the ideas we are generating, the work we are doing and the relationships we are developing today will reveal a dynamic and interesting strategy for artistic planning, growth and change.”

Photo by Lisa DeShantz-Cook

The Dance COLEctive, created in 1996, explores fresh approaches and unexpected twists by making and performing dance via solo and collaborative initiatives. TDC supports and advances the creative vision and curiosity of its artistic director, Margi Cole, as well as partnering artists. Dedicated to teaching and mentorship, TDC motivates and nurtures the next generation of artists in the studio and beyond.

Recognized for its compelling, socially relevant and inspiring choreography, the all-female company, comprising mostly emerging artists, has contributed to the support of more than 150 collaborating artists and organizations, including locally and nationally recognized choreographers, dancers and other artists. TDC has produced more than 80 works, including those created by Cole, guest choreographers and TDC company members. In fulfilling its mission and vision, TDC embraces collaboration as a core element of its creative process and nurtures and promotes the creativity of emerging artists through mentorship. TDC performs at traditional venues, creates site-specific work and conducts residencies annually, including performances, workshops, master classes and lecture demonstrations.

Cole has received recognition for her contribution to the field of modern dance through awards including the Illinois Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship, a 2015 Individual Arts Program Creative Project Grant from the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, a Chicago Dancemakers Forum grant and the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, which selects leaders in their respective fields to represent the United States on a month-long tour of European countries.

Funding
The Dance COLEctive is supported by The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Albert Pick Jr. Foundation and many generous individuals.

For more information and updates about The Dance COLEctive, visit dancecolective.com; for more information about Margi Cole, visit margicole.com.

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Reflections about the early years by a Founding Member

Dancer:  Ebony Lashay Bitner

 

I fell in love with and became serious about dance at the comparatively late age of 14.  When I had a dream of becoming a professional dancer, I stepped out on faith knowing that the odds were well-stacked against me.

Margi was the first and in many ways the only teacher I ever had who saw beneath the surface of me.  She took the time to nurture and mentor me as a dancer. She saw my potential.  She supported my strengths rather than remain honed in on my weaknesses. She made me believe that my dream could become real because she believed in me...

The early years of the TDC were a lot of things.  Creating our own vocabulary..."corn-fusing" to others but making perfect sense to us! Hours filled with laughter and sometimes frustration sprinkled with drama and tears.  State fairs and sweaty July afternoon rehearsals at the Broadway Armory preparing for another performance. Group therapy, over cocktails and P-funks.  Celebrations of birthdays and break-ups, weddings and first-borns.

Stated simply, those early years were all about growth.  Through the shedding of our individual layers and with a healthy dose of guidance and patience we all evolved.  Through the expression of dance we became one entity. We crossed the threshold of being young women to being women and with that crossing over came the unavoidable shift of dreams and priorities.

Above all for me, those days were about forging friendships and forming incredibly meaningful bonds with women I may have never gotten a chance to know at all in the "real world"  We became sisters in a very true sense.  Our kinship was born out of the most unlikely of people and circumstances.  The early days of TDC were about everyone doing their part and  coming together with a spirit of support and love, expressing it all onstage in the most beautiful,  unique and honest way imaginable.

What fun we had!   I think of those days often and they always make me smile. They were and will always be some of the happiest days of my life.

Congrats Margs!  Here's to another 20 and beyond...

Submitted by TDC Founding Member Ebony Lashay Bitner, October 17, 2015

A letter from the Artistic Director

Dear Dance COLEctive Enthusiasts,

The Dance COLEctive has had a good year of visible and diverse performance opportunities throughout the city of Chicago.  We had the pleasure of performing on the stages of the Pritzker, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Stage 773.  We have offered audience members an opportunity to interact with and make changes to our work in the hope that being transparent about our creative process will give you some insight into what we do.  It is with that transparency in mind that I am writing to you today, quite simply to ask for your help. 

Photo by Eric Olson

Almost 18 years ago I founded The Dance COLEctive as a way for my friends and I to produce our work. Today it is much more than that.

In addition to being a vessel for creating thoughtful dance and performance art, TDC is deeply committed to mentoring young artists to be well rounded professionals capable of succeeding independently. The ability to make & produce work, think entrepreneurially and to articulate themselves as artists are all key skills imparted to our promising dancers and collaborators.

You can read about this work here in the Huffington Post.

Currently the company is comprised of 7 thoughtful and sophisticated young women (you can read some of the writing about their experiences here) who are helping me to fulfill my desire to mentor while also actively creating new work.  Their dedication and remarkable growth as artists inspire and energize me to keep finding ways to create performance and mentorship opportunities and to endure when things get tough.  The current national and local economic and political environments continue to pose serious challenges to TDC's future.   Disappearing resources on the the state and city level, as well as more limited support from local foundations has had a very real impact on TDC's ability to support itself and its artists.   This is why we need you more than ever.  Many of you have been collaborators, students and mentors.  Many of you are family, friends, peers, acquaintances, board members and audience members.  You have personally witnessed my passion for dance and the power of a positive experience!

Please consider making a year-end donation in support of TDC.  In supporting us, you are not only making a financial contribution, you are investing in the continued growth of tomorrow's artistic leaders, as well as in my unwavering desire to mentor those artists and to create new and innovative dance.

To make a donation, simply go to our website or you can send a check to our snail mail address below.

You can also support us while you are shopping on Amazon.

Thank you so much for your continued interest in the Company and have a safe and wonderful holiday!

Most Sincerely,

Margi Cole, Artistic Director

 Submitted by Margi Cole, TDC Artistic Director on December 15, 2013.