FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 7, 2024, 8:30AM

MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn Lent, Programs and Communications Director

 

Join Chicago Dancemakers Forum in celebrating the four 2025 Lab Artists:

cat mahari

Courtney Mackedanz

Jarius “ManOfGod” King

Keyierra Collins

 

More about these artists is below. High Resolution images and caption sheet are available here.

These local dancemakers—of Washington Park, Pilsen, North Lawndale, and Pullman, respectively—will each receive a grant of $25,000 along with a year of tailored support from January to December 2025. They were selected as Finalists of Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Lab Artists Program for the distinctness of their dancemaking and artistic vision, their overall body of work, and the timing of their participation in this grant program in consideration of their artistic career trajectory.

Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Lab Artists Program has been the most substantial source of support for individual dancemakers and choreographers working in the Chicagoland area with an open call process. The program, which launched in 2003, is designed to provide financial support that is significant enough to fund the creative process and to minimize some of life’s day-to-day stressors so that artists have the time and capacity to invest in their artistic practice with greater depth or scale. The $25K grant can be spent fully at the discretion of each Lab Artist, with funds covering living expenses, research activities, travel, fair pay for dancers and collaborators, and other expenses that support the artist while continuing their creative practice or making new dance work. The grant amount was increased in 2022 to help cover support services throughout the Lab Year, such as childcare, therapy, access services, specialized equipment, grant proposal writing, and mentorship/coaching. Lab Artists may also choose to invest, save, and/or donate a portion of their grant funds.

For over two decades in the Chicago region, the Lab Artists Program has provided time and funds in support of risk taking, creative research, and community building. Rather than an award, the Lab Artists Program is a laboratory for local artists making dance in a multitude of contexts; it is an incubator for their experimentation. Past Lab Artists are diverse in age, gender, race, local geography, and dance discipline, working in Tap, Bharatanatyam, Chicago Footwork, dance for the camera, Voguing, contemporary, modern dance, and more. Many of these artists have built national audiences and international recognition since receiving support from Chicago Dancemakers Forum and, collectively, represent the distinct power of dance made in Chicago.

There were 74 applicants to the 2025 Lab Artists Program, which was open to all eligible dancemakers and prioritized artists that we recognize have historically been underrepresented in the program – Indigenous, Immigrant, Trans and Non-Binary, Parent/Caregiver, and/or Disabled Artists. Data on the 74 applicants was previously shared via social media. Over a two-round selection process, 10 Finalists were selected by a panel comprised of six dance artists, scholars, and leaders: LaTasha Barnes, Dr Melissa Blanco Borelli, SK Kerastas, Christopher Knowlton, Ph.D., Petra Kuppers, and Rulan Tangen. This year, every finalist received $1,000.

 

We congratulate the following six Finalists for the 2025 Lab Artists Program:

Anniela Huidobro

Jamila Kekulah

Jemal “Ptop“ Delacruz

Luke Greeff

Paula Sousa

Silvita Diaz Brown

 

For over two decades, Chicago Dancemakers Forum has been providing resources, fostering community, and advocating for local dancemaking artists as individual human beings, no matter the business structure of their work. Expanding definitions and program eligibility have resulted in a greater number of dancemakers recognizing their fit for the program and changes were made to the review and selection process for the 2025 program that are described here. The four 2024 Lab Artists were randomly selected from the pool of 10 Finalists. Once the group of Finalists is selected through a competitive process, randomization helps reduce the impact of curatorial gatekeeping that can happen with short lists and eliminates the time and labor of a second round of application. 

Shawn Lent, Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Programs and Communications Director, shares, “The Lab Artists Program fosters a sense of solidarity among our many local dance communities. It forges connections, collaborations, and friendships that extend far beyond each Lab year. Let us embrace the spirit of experimentation and exploration that lies at the heart of the Lab Artists Program, knowing that it is through daring that we continue to resist and expand the boundaries of dance and society.”

 

Meet the 2025 Lab Artists

cat mahari

(she/her/blk)

cat mahari’s practice is built from a richly layered body history, stemming from an archive of research, physical training, and questioning with an intent to manifest an intellectual, material, and informal legacy of undisciplined Blk liberation. She is a 2025 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist and 2023 Dance/USA Fellow. In 2021, she was named a City of Chicago Esteemed Artist Awardee and received a 3Arts Award. Additionally, cat is a recipient of a 2024 MCA-Chicago New Works Initiative Commission, 2023 MAP Fund microgrant, and 2022 Foundation for the Contemporary Arts Emergency funding for the triptych work blk ark: the impossible manifestation. Her work interdisciplinary installations, performances, sound art, and films engages national and international communities, including: the mixtape series violent/break: volumes I and II, sugar in the raw, and migration pressures and strategies. mahari aka culture free aka abstrakt blk aka mississippi is an active culture bearer of hip hop and house, student of diasporic and contemporary performances practices, and caregiver. She holds a BFA from UMKC-Conservatory and a MA in Performance, Practice, and Research from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama at the University of London.

Current Practice/Project: All Roads Lead to Rome is a 3-act sound score for sculpture and movement intrigued by the socio-infrastructural gravitation of empire, the mundane spectacle and immediacy of attention, thought, and action that lead people to where they are/are going now. 32 subwoofer sculptures are created made of southern yellow pine. Each sculpture corresponds to the original number of West African founders of Africatown, who are the survivors of the illegal enslavement vessel The Clotilda and US chattel enslavement. Piezo contact mics will be embedded into the sculptures, resonating with the vibrations that emanate from the sculptures, and the vibrations made by others that walk, run, and move around them. The sounds emitted by the contact mics are processed further via tape and synthesizer creating a modulated cyclic-interactive sound field.

“We”, as intentional and unintentional audience-participants of empire experience fragmentation, coalescing, and care without any particular ordering. I wonder… what happens when empire collapses, but the roads are still used? How is stake or claim fed into personal purpose and identity? How do our contemporary philosophies and humors of life reflect empirical past? What ways is the specter of empire suborned to the spectacle of the personal, the mundane, the everyday – the multi-polar?

Photo credits: Courtesy of the Artist. Headshot by Maria Hackman. Action photo by Ricardo E. Adame.

 

Courtney Mackedanz

(they/she)

Courtney Mackedanz lives and works in Chicago. They were a 2024 DanceWEB Scholar with mentor Isabel Lewis (Vienna), a finalist for the 2024 Artadia Award (Chicago), and a finalist for the 2024 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artists Program (Chicago). Recent solo exhibitions of their work include Skylab Gallery (Columbus) and Roman Susan Gallery (Chicago). Recent group exhibitions of their work include Rudimento Gallery (Quito) and ACRE Projects (Chicago). They have performed at The Arts Club, Links Hall, and High Concept Labs (Chicago) amongst others. They have attended residencies in pursuit of their research including Praxis R24 Held Experiments in Touch (Oslo), Monira Foundation Artist Residency (Chicago), and Landing 3.0 with mentor Miguel Gutierez (New York) amongst others. Mackedanz has performed in the work of Alexandra Pirici (Chicago Architecture Biennial), Otobong Nkanga (MCA Chicago), and Tino Seghal (MCA Chicago) amongst others. Mackedanz earned their BFA in Performance and Visual Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute (Chicago) and when not in the studio, they love to be with other people, plants, near the water, and with their dog (Easy), and cat (Eclipse).

Current Practice/Project: Courtney Mackedanz is an experimental dancemaker working in embodied research, expanded choreography, and multimedia performance installation. Meandering gradually through cumulative iterations, Mackedanz’s current research has been gravitating toward an exploration of the pasture as a landscape, touch as a reciprocal condition, and complexity as a context of embodiment. Mackedanz’s recent projects have explored haptic methods of experiencing the body, states of nervous system attunement, and more than human or decentralized sensing strategies to examine how negotiations of power, proximity, intimacy, and interrelation might structure, steer, constrain, or catalyze potentials in movement.

Photo credits: Courtesy of the Artist. Artist Portrait by Elaine Suzanne Miller Movement Image by Courtney Mackedanz

 

Jarius “ManOfGod” King

(he/him)

Jarius “ManOfGod” King is a performing artist and Black Arts instructor primarily based out of his hometown of Chicago, but also Hong Kong. He began dancing in 2000 via the art of Breaking shortly after undergoing surgery for scoliosis. Since then, he has become versed in multiple disciplines of movement under the Street Dance umbrella.

His career highlights include: 

– 60+ competitive accomplishments (Breaking, House, Hip-Hop, Open Styles)

– Judging committee member and co-author for HKDSF’s coaching curriculum

– Co-director of “Breakin’ The Law” festival (2003-2014)

– University of Wisconsin-Madison “Forward Under 40” Award

– 2023 Dark Matter Resident Artist at Elastic Arts

– Judging committee member and co-author of HKDSF’s coaching curriculum for Breaking in the Olympics

– Awarded Ragdale Residency 2024

Current Practice/Project: I am a performing artist and Black Arts educator whose artistry is defined by living life in 3D; as a dad, DJ, and dancer. Through my multifaceted project, For The Record, I embark on an exploration of Afro-Sino relations, identities, and the pervasive influence of global anti-Blackness. This project is an amalgamation of art, documentation, and my personal encounters as a Black man navigating global anti-Blackness. 

Photos: Courtesy of Artist, Headshot by ColectivoMultipolar. Movement image by Ki Chan Yui, A.K.A. “BigKi.”

 

Keyierra Collins

(she/her)

Keyierra Collins is an Afro-interdisciplinary dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist based in Chicago but recognized internationally. In 2020 she was awarded the 3Arts/ Walder Foundation Awardee grant. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2016 with a BA in Dance. She studied and apprenticed under the tutelage of educators and international performers, Onye Ozuzu (choreographer) & Dr. Raquel Monroe (writer). As a dance artist Collins has worked with artists like Chicago-based dancemaker and improvisationalist Aaliyah Christina as well as France-based Rwandan performance artist and vocalist Dorothee Munyaneza. She also has had the pleasure of working with many Chicago-based artists like Anna Martine Whitehead, Erin Kilmurray, and Jovan Landry, Sonita Surratt to name a few. Collins’ work lies at the intersection of exploring dance as healing and unpacking the collective and individual trauma experienced by people of the African Diaspora. Her process is kinesthetically driven and often inspired by conversations between peers and abstract reflections related to socio-political issues. Having toured and worked with artists in Haiti, Nigeria, and France, Collins is compelled to continue traveling to work with artists around the world and building spaces for her community. Alongside Brianna Alexis Heath, she co-founded Take Some Leave Some (TSLS): a multidisciplinary performance collective using sound, choreography, film, and installations to create experiences reflecting and celebrating Black women’s stories. TSLS creates experiences inside homes and neighborhood spaces on the Southside of Chicago to reference “home” as a kind of a communal safe space maintained by Black women’s resilient and unapologetic experiential knowledge.

Current Practice/Project: My dancemaking practice involves creating distinct worlds where dance and performance can thrive. Rooted in Afro-diasporic social and traditional dance practices, my movement is shaped by these cultural influences. Additionally, my experience and lineage as a Black woman deeply inform both my movement practice and the context of my work.

Photo credits: Courtesy of Artist. Images by Jovan Landry.

 

Meet the 2025 Lab Artists Program Finalists

 

Anniela Huidobro

Anniela Huidobro (she/her) is a Mexican dancer, choreographer and dance educator. Graduated from the Mazatlan Professional Dance School (EPDM), she has received the PECDA Morelos Grant three times (2015, 2018 and 2024), and the IBERESCENA Grant in 2021. With more than 10 years of professional dance experience, Anniela has performed at various festivals and projects across Latin America, including the Dança à Deriva Festival in Brazil, Teatro del Oráculo in Chile, Rambla Festival in Guatemala, Prisma Festival in Panama, Movimiento Continuo Festival and Detonos Festival in Colombia, as well as La Carpa Festival and Cuerpo al Descubierto Festival in Mexico. In the United States, she has performed her work at the Newport Dance Festival in Rhode Island (2023), the Delve Dance Showcase (2023), and in “Meditation On Being”, organized by the Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble (2024). This year she was invited to be a guest choreographer for the Boston Dance Theater company and to perform in the One Hour Project in Chicago.

Currently residing in Chicago, Anniela teaches dance classes and workshops at various schools and cultural centers throughout the area. She has also taught workshops to the University of Chicago dance community and serves as a teaching artist with Urban Gateways. Committed to strengthening her ties with the local arts community, Anniela collaborates with different artistssuch as Ayako Kato, Timothy Rey, Phillip Wood, Dani Oblitas, among others. 

Current Project/Practice: My work speaks to the affective relationships between human beings and with the earth through the exploration of different styles of dance and improvisation. I am a dance artist interested in creating environmental awareness, as well as reconnecting with our roots and ancestors.

 

Jamila Kekulah

Jamila Kekulah (they/them) is ever evolving in this space time continuum. As a movement creator and artist, Jamila creates performances rooted in spirt, exploring the inner landscapes of self, others and nature. They have been selected as the inaugural artist fellow at House Of The Lorde, a Co-MISSION artist in residence at Links Hall and a New Works artist with Synapse Arts. Jamila is also the creator of The Moving Soul, a holistic somatic movement practice that bridges the gap between soma, psyche and soul.

Current Project/Practice: I affirm the spiritual, make space for ritual and hold the practice of creating an impermanent sanctuary. My practice examines narratives, personal history, poetry, images and imagination.

 

Jemal “Ptop “ Delacruz

Jemal “Ptop” Delacruz (he/him/big) is a Chicago Footwork artist from The Era Footwork Collective and also leader of Goon Squad Footwork battle clique and Founder of THE RING Footwork Battle League.

Current Project/Practice: Chicago Footworker and Mentor and Event Coordinator

 

 

 

Lucas Greeff

Lucas Greeff (ze/he/they) is a choreographer, circus artist, educator and dancer whose work focuses on expanding the scope of queer & neurodivergent performance, engaging inherent somatic energies, and challenging physical extremity through movement experiment. Luke’s past choreographic works include [Z]im, Missile Kid, Bo(ix)y(e) Division, Carnal Inferno, Spectrum, and Trapping Butterflies. Former dancer for St. Petersburg Ballet Company, Fletcher Dance Project, and Joel Hall Dancers; Luke’s ongoing artistic affiliations include Yes Ma’am Circus, Reminiscent Circus, Lucid Banter Project, Synapse Arts, Incite Dance Center, Aloft Circus Arts, Khecari, and Thwack Dance. Recipient of the 2023 Twisted Windows LGBTQIA+ Artist Award presented by the Chicago Circus & Performing Arts Festival, 2024 Resident Artist with the Ragdale Foundation, and 2024 Synapse Studio Series Artist; Luke has advocated for queer & neurodivergent experiences in the arts on various platforms, including APAP Arts.Work.Life., Medicus, and Queer DanceCon. Luke is the co-founder & director of Such Creatures, serves on the board for Yes Ma’am Circus as DEAI chair, and leads both ground & aerial movement practices tailored for queer and neurodivergent movers across Chicago. Visit @missile.kid and @such_creatures on Instagram to learn more.

Current Project/Practice: My movement practice is focused on unmasking Queer and neurodivergent narratives, taping into inherent energies, and exploring the extremity of movement through experiment & performance at the intersection of contemporary dance and circus mediums. My current project, “h_art[work]” is a collective musing on disenfranchised grief through the lens of experimental circus, contemporary dance, poetry & performance art in collaboration with Such Creatures artists Kait Dessoffy, Shoshana Levy, Raven See, Stacie Bogle, and Valeria Rosero.

 

Paula Sousa

Paula Sousa (she/her) is a Brazilian dance artist based in Chicago, working as a choreographer, performer, and video maker. She holds a Major in Dance degree from the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) in Austria and a technical degree from the Bolshoi School in Brazil. Paula has collaborated extensively with artists across Europe, South America, and the USA. Formerly an artist with Balé do Teatro Guaíra (2017-2022), Projeto Mov_oLA|Alex Soares (2013-2017), Plataforma Shop Sui|Fernando Martins (2017), and Arsenalle della Danza|La Biennale di Venezia (2012), Paula has been a member of Hedwig Dances since January 2023, where she has collaborated with Natasha Adorlee, Mike Tyus, Jenna Pollack, Rigo Saura, Noelle Keyser, Anna Sapozhnikov, and Jan Bartoszek. She is also the assistant Rehearsal Director for Hedwig Dances. In Chicago, Paula has also collaborated with Jessi Stegall for the performance “Figments (A)” at the Arrive Festival 2023, with Chih-Jou Cheng for the project “Arriving at Dawn”, and with Jenna Pollack for the Chicago Cultural Center Residency 2024. As a choreographer, Paula has created pieces for both stage and video, including videoclips and independent works. Her latest creations are “Under My Thumbs” – Hedwig Dances which premiered in April 2024, “Nós” – Dance in the Parks 2024 and “ANA”- Ruth Page Ballet Training Company, October 2024. Additionally, she holds a degree in Public Policy and Administration and works in cultural production.

Current Project/Practice: My work is rooted in contemporary and improvisational techniques. My fascination lies in the intricacies of movement and its ability to connect individuals across various layers of experience. Both as a performer and a choreographer, I am drawn to collaborations that value individual artistic voices within the collective. I am constantly in pursuit of poetic beauty that transcends individual choices, resonates with the collective experience, and explores contemporary themes relevant to society and specific groups of people.

 

Silvita Diaz Brown

Silvita Diaz Brown (she/her) is a Mexican/American choreographer, dancer, yogi, teacher and artistic director of Sildance/AcroDanza. Based in Chicago since 2008, she holds a BFA in Dance from Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Mexico and an MFA in Theatre/Movement from York University, Canada. For the last 17 years her interdisciplinary work has been presented at venues and festivals in Cuba, Spain, India, Mexico, Canada, and within the USA. Working with collaborators, she blends elements of contemporary dance, ballet, yoga, acroyoga, circus and physical theater with sound, text, costumes and video to excavate, embrace and reconcile her heritage, history and cultures. Currents of mysticism and magic realism run through all of her work to expose and alchemize conflicting truths.

Current Project/Practice: Ellas Y Yo Mexicanas is inspired by uncompromising painter Frida Kahlo and feminist writer/phylosofer Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz, two historic Mexican women who broke away from colonialist and marianismo expectations and power dynamics. In this work, they will joined by a contemporary Mexican/American woman, “Silvita.” Conceived as a triptych dance piece, Ellas Y Yo depicts Mexican women artists driven to create while working within, against, and through the restrictive pressures and expectations of women in the 17th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Through intertwined solos, duets, trios, quartets and quintets of Juanas, Fridas and Silvitas; the work seeks a link that connects them all.

Photo credit: William Frederking