Happy new year! May it be one of collective struggle, where we do more work together and less work alone.

We begin our creative endeavors of 2023 with the official kickoff of Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Lab Artist program. We will meet with the other dancers in the cohort on January 27th for the inaugural retreat, organizing our collective schedules and planning out the year ahead. There will be four other gatherings during each quarter of the year in which the cohort will continue to build relationships and check in on the progress of our various projects. We are super excited not only to begin this process, but to get better acquainted with the other artists whom we’ll be joining.

We’ll also link back up with Black abolitionist organizers through BlackRoots, revisiting their ongoing work around the fight to defund police nationally. We joined them for a narrative intensive back in July 2022, and we’ll reconnect this month to give feedback on the current state of their organizing playbook.

It’s a quiet beginning as we set ourselves up for a big year. See you next month!

BH