"You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive."
“No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than others.”
“Our arms start from the back because they were once wings.”
“Art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
“And David danced before the LORD with all his might.”
Our commitment is to “Community” not “Company,” the Participatory, rather than the Proprietary. And having chosen this route, we are building a more robust dance community.
DanceWorks Chicago is committed to build a foundation for the individual artistic growth of dancers and choreographers, providing a laboratory from which early career artists propel themselves and the art form to a new level through training, collaboration, mentorship, and performance. Led with integrity by Co-founder and Artistic Director Julie Nakagawa, DanceWorks Chicago fills a niche in the dance ecosystem investing in and shining a spotlight on the individual artists. Dancers are encouraged to explore their technical capability as well as their artistic curiosity in an individualized and deeply personal approach with the goal of nurturing passionate, articulate artists able to make meaningful contributions to the art form. Choreographically, we look to uncover new voices while also embracing opportunities to connect with more established choreographers providing mentorship and perspective for all involved. Welcoming the public to engage with the DanceWorks family to build context around the work of art is both our pleasure and our duty as a good dance citizen.