DEEPLY ROOTED DANCE THEATER SHIFTS TO VIRTUAL SUMMER DANCE INTENSIVE JULY 6–31

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater is adapting its Summer Dance Intensive (SDI) to a virtual format in 2020 to enable the program to continue while keeping students, staff, and community members safe and in compliance with the phases of reopening the city of Chicago and state of Illinois. The Youth Division session takes place July 6–17; the Pre-Professional Division session takes place July 20–31; and Mature H.O.T. Women takes place July 6–31.

This year’s SDI offers technical training and artistic development within the discipline of dance. Participants are exposed to a rigorous curriculum fostering learning and personal growth, along with opportunities to experience the company’s repertoire through workshops and performances. The virtual curriculum includes classes based in Horton, Graham, ballet, and contemporary movement. The curriculum also features The Continuum, a series of guided, remote conversations on self-awareness and personal growth informed by each participant’s creativity and artistic process.

The program attracts local, national, and international participants. At the conclusion of the SDI, qualified participants in the Pre-Professional Division who are interested in continuing with Deeply Rooted may audition via video submission for potential placement in DRDT’s Apprentice or Emerging Artists Ensemble programs.

Also during the SDI, Deeply Rooted is offering its Mature H.O.T. Women program for women ages 25 and older who are Health-conscious, Optimistic, and Triumphant. The program provides a technique class to strengthen the body, challenge the mind, and nourish the spirit through a synergy of modern, ballet, and/or African dance.
The Emerging Choreographers Showcase, an advanced division of SDI that cultivates artistic and technical growth in choreography, will not take place this year.
 

Registration fees are as follows:
$250, Youth Division (Mondays–Fridays, July 6–17);
$250, Pre-Professional Division (Mondays–Fridays, July 20–31);
and $200, Mature H.O.T. Women (Wednesdays and Saturdays, July 6–31),
available beginning June 11 at deeplyrooteddancetheater.org.
All programming is subject to change.

Premiering in 1996, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater is rooted in traditions of modern, contemporary, and African dance, as well as storytelling, in universal themes that spark a visceral experience and ignite an emotional response in diverse audiences worldwide. Collaborating with nationally renowned choreographers across the spectrum of modern, ballet, and African dance, DRDT presents work that reflects eclectic voices in contemporary life.

Deeply Rooted’s programs are partially supported by the Alphawood Foundation Chicago, Arts Work Fund and Smart Growth program of the Chicago Community Trust, Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks Program, Ginger Farley Charitable Fund at the Chicago Community Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, International Association of Blacks in Dance, Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C. Farley Jr. Family Foundation, Reva and David Logan Foundation, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Deeply Rooted Family of Friends. Special thanks to Ballet Chicago, Chicago Dancemakers Forum, Chicago Community Trust, Chicago Park District, Reva and David Logan Center, and St. Benedict the African Church for their partnership and support.