FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 20, 2022, 8:00AM

MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn Lent, Programs and Communications Director

Help us congratulate the following ten Chicago-based dancemakers who have been selected as finalists for the Chicago Dancemakers Forum 2023 Lab Artists Program.

Jalen Barnes aka DJ Jalen
Silvita Diaz Brown
Aaliyah Christina
Enneréssa Davis
Benji Hart
Shalaka Kulkarni
Helen Lee
Zachary Nicol
Rigo Saura
Winfield RedCloud Woundedeye

The Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artists Program is the most substantial source of support for individual dancemakers working in Chicago with an open call process. Later this month, four of the ten finalists will be selected through random draw to become the 2023 Lab Artists, each receiving a grant of $25K along with a year of tailored support to aid in their research, development, and potential presentation of dance work. 

This 20th anniversary year of the program was open to all eligible dancemakers but prioritized artists that we recognize have historically been underrepresented in the program – Indigenous, Immigrant, Trans/Non-Binary, Parent/Caregiver, and/or Disabled Artists, or those with a creative practice that directly benefits these communities. 80% of the open call applicants and 100% of the finalists self-identified with one or more of the prioritization categories.

There were 66 applicants to the 2023 Lab Artists Program. Selection Panelists included Victor Alexander (2012 Lab Artist), Jenn Freeman/Po’Chop (2018 Lab Artist), Kayla Hamilton, and Valerie Oliveiro.

The Celebration of the 2023 Lab Artists will take place during the closing party of the Elevate Chicago Dance 2022 festival on Sunday, October 16, 6pm at 21c Museum Hotel. 

Photo: Rahila Coats, Jenn Freeman, Zachary Nicol, and Anna Martine Whitehead – FORCE! Forceanopera at Pivot Arts Festival 2022, Edge Theater. Photo by William Frederking.

ID: Four Black femmes in denim and t-shirts roll over and across one another, their arms, legs, and puffs going in many directions. One person is lying atop a railing. Another person is blurred looking in from the foreground.

Meet the Finalists

Jalen Barnes aka DJ Jalen

Hailing from the South Side of Chicago, 3x King of Chicago Champ, Jalen Barnes Sr. has been dancing since the age of two, a proud family tradition he carries with him. To Jalen, footwork is a universal dance style like no other. Introduced by his older brother, he broke into the dance community during his middle school years. From there, Jalen formed a footwork group with his friends known as TakeOva Gang aka TOG. From dancing in his basement to hosting community events, Jalen has turned Chicago’s native dance into an evolving career. Due to his contributions to the craft, he has worked with the likes of Kumba Lynx, Red Bull, Boiler Room, Soundcloud, Curious City and more. With his talent, skills, and leadership, Jalen is ready to take his game even further. Today Chicago, tomorrow the world.

Photo: Courtesy of Artist

Silvita Diaz Brown

Silvita Diaz Brown is a Mexican/American choreographer whose work interlaces dance with acroyoga, sound, video, and spoken word in both English and Spanish. As director of Sildance/AcroDanza, her performance pieces investigate the self: its desires, fears and realizations and how they intersect with societal norms and expectations. Diaz Brown holds a BFA in Dance from Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Mexico and an MFA in Theatre/Movement from York University, Canada. In Chicago her work has been presented by several organizations across the city including The National Museum of Mexican Art and Malcolm X College. In 2019 she was awarded an Individual Artists Grant from the City of Chicago and a Links Hall CO-MISSION Fellowship. Her work toured to Mexico in 2020 and was part of  American Dance Abroad’s Pitchbook. Silvita was honored to be nominated for the 3Arts Award in Dance twice, and in 2021 she was awarded a Digital Dance Grant from Chicago Dancemakers Forum.

Photo by Brian Brown

Aaliyah Christina

Born in Ruston, Louisiana and raised across Louisiana, Maryland, and Texas, Aaliyah Christina creates and supports performance work as an administrator, curator, movement artist, and writer. She improvises dances and writes poetic-prose about relationship/power dynamics, mental health, and Blackness as a resident on the South side of Chicago. In 2021, Aaliyah received the 3Arts Make-A-Wave grant. Since 2015, she has collaborated with Chicago artists like Keyierra Collins, Ysayë Alma, Darling Shear, Wisdom Baty, Ayako Kato, and Dorian Sylvain to name a few. She volunteers for community orgs and campaigns including Assata’s Daughters and Defund CPD to move towards Black liberation.

Photo by Chris Martin

Enneréssa Davis

Enneréssa is a multi-hyphenated artist and CEO/Founder of Praize Productions, Inc. As an accomplished writer and choreographer, she has produced eight award-winning, theatrical productions and most recently directed her first motion picture. She has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education from Indiana University. She is a community activist whose work is committed to amplifying the voices of the Black community. Enneréssa received a CMS Merit Award, an America’s Big Sisters Award, and was named to the Young Women’s Professional League’s “40 Under 40” for her work in the arts. Enneréssa was chosen by Ingenuity to sit on its Public Affairs Collective Impact Panel to improve arts education for Chicago’s youth. In 2021, she was selected to co-chair the Economic Development Pillar for the citywide initiative, WeWill Chicago.

Photo by Kees

Benji Hart

Benji Hart is a Chicago-based author, educator, and artist whose work centers Black radicalism, queer liberation, and prison abolition. Their words have appeared in numerous anthologies, and been published at Time, Teen Vogue, The Advocate, and elsewhere. They have led workshops for organizations and at academic institutions internationally, and read at the Guild Literary Complex, Women & Children First, and the Hairpin Arts Center. Their performances have been featured at La Goyco, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2022); the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA (2021); and Den Frie, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021).

Photo by Kaleb Autman

Shalaka Kulkarni

Shalaka Kulkarni is a native of India, and founder of the collective SurTaal (“inactive now”), her work revolves around questioning societal norms, empowering marginal voices and erased narratives, both in Western and Indian cultures empowering Female identity. She is trained in Bharatnatyam (originating from Southern India) and Kathak (originating from Northern India). As her family immigrated to the US, she began exploring intersections of Indian Classical dance forms with other movement influences, text & technology. She has performed in India, US & Europe. Most recently, she completed a SloMoCo (Movement and Computing) 2021 Residencies and was a guest choreographer for MOMENTA Dance Company. She is a current artist-in-residence with Mandala Arts with support from Illinois Arts Council, High Concept Labs in partnership with Monira Foundation, and See Chicago Dance’s Dance for Camera program. 

Photo: Courtesy of Artist

Helen Lee

Helen Lee (she/they) was born and raised in Chicago to immigrant parents from South Korea. She received her MFA in Performance from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and BA in Dance from University of Hawaii at Manoa. She was a HATCH Artist Resident with Chicago Artists Coalition, Links Hall Co-MISSION Artist and named 2022 Newcity Breakout Artist. Helen’s work is rooted in honoring and celebrating life, death, identity and ancestral lineage. They create works that examine trauma, racism, grief, shame and healing. Their hope is to amplify the voices of Korean womxn, making their narratives more visible and building solidarity amongst the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities.

Photo: Courtesy of Artist

Zachary Nicol

Zachary Nicol is an artist living and working in Chicago. Their interdisciplinary work uses research in dance, movement, site, and image to unfold problems of the performing body. Their work has been shown at Links Hall, Co-Prosperity, Trap Door Theatre, Lumpen Radio, Filmfront, OuterSpace, Compound Yellow (Chicago), National Museum of Romanian Literature (Bucharest), and S1 Gallery (Portland), has been supported by Chicago Dancemakers Forum and Chicago Artists Coalition, and through residencies at Ragdale Foundation, Annas Projects, ACRE, and Links Hall. Nicol works as a collaborative and performing artist and has contributed to to recent projects by Anna Martine Whitehead, Joe Namy, Aram Atamian, Dulcinee DeGuere, and Mlondi Zondi.

Photo: Courtesy of Artist

Rigo Saura

Graduated from the National School of Modern and Contemporary Dance in Havana, Cuba. Former soloist dancer of Danza Contemporánea of Cuba and soloist dancer of the classic cast in the National Ballet of Ecuador. Resident Choreographer in Ecuador’s Urban Ballet and Composition Master in the Metropolitan School of Art. Since moving to Chicago, he’s been part of Ruth Page Center of the Arts and guest artist/instructor for the Professional Program at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Chicago DanceWorks , Thodos Dances, Visceral Dance Chicago, Reva and David Logan Center of the Art, The Latin School Dance Program, Common Dance Conservatory, Chicago DanceCrash and Ruth Page Civic Ballet. Currently, he is a dancer, teacher, and resident choreographer at Hedwig Dances, and also, a recent winner of L.A. Contemporary Choreography Lab, Chicago DanceMakers Forum Production Residency, and guest choreographer at Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Dance in the Parks, and Links Hall Co-Mission Artists.

Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Winfield RedCloud Woundedeye

Winfield RedCloud Woundedeye is a grass dancer, drummer, singer, educator and clothing designer from Chicago (Zhigaagoong) . He continues long lineages of dancers within the Cheyenne and Ojibwe communities. Since childhood, he has danced at cultural events, pow-wows and wacipis (Lakota word for dance and music celebration, literally “they all dance”). He plays the traditional drum (Northern Woodland style drumming and Lakota Sioux Drumming) and sings Lakota Sioux songs. A multimedia creator, he designs, sews and beads in the tradition of grass dancers, honoring the origins of his dance while exploring creative possibilities for its future. In 2020, Winfield danced at an event featuring leading Chicago hip hop artists, forging bonds across local Black and Indigenous communities. In 2021, Winfield began a collaboration with Chicago Footwork dancer Jemal de la Cruz (P-Top) and filmmaker Wills Glasspiegel for a permanent installation film at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport that unites grass dance and Chicago Footwork. 

Photo by Ron Turney