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Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

Chicago, Illinois

Grants

2016 (2 years)
$50,000

Deeply Rooted Productions is a contemporary dance company that combines modern, classical and African-American traditions. It is Chicago’s only major contemporary dance company whose work is immersed in the African-American experience. The company offers professional-level training programs that impact more than 60 emerging and practicing dancers yearly. The company also conducts community outreach through workshops, lecture demonstrations, and training programs, reaching more than 4,500 community members each year. The World Indumba Project connects artists from Chicago-based Deeply Rooted with a theater collaborative  in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a dance art foundation in Sofia, Bulgaria. As part of this artistic exchange project, Deeply Rooted and its South African contemporaries create a new work inspired by South African healing rituals called Indumba. They share this work and their collective insights into the creative process with American and Bulgarian artists and audiences. Award funds support direct project expenses: travel, performance, marketing and communication, educational programming costs. This is the second International Connections Fund award to Deeply Rooted Productions.

2013 (1 year)
$40,000

In support of a multi-year residency with a contemporary dance company in South Africa and participation in the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance festival.

2009 (2 years)
$75,000

To support marketing and development plans (over two years).