ASZURE BARTON

Artist and choreographer Aszure Barton has collaborated with celebrated dancers and companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Misty Copeland, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, English National Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, National Ballet of Canada, Nederlands Dans Theater, Sydney Dance Company, and Teatro alla Scala, among many others. She is a Bessie Award Honoree and has received numerous honors including the prestigious Arts & Letters Award, joining the ranks of Oscar Peterson, Karen Kain, and Margaret Atwood. She was the first Martha Duffy resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and is an official ambassador of contemporary dance in Canada. She is the founder of Aszure Barton & Artists, an inter-disciplinary international dance project.

RANDY DUNCAN

Randy Duncan, a native of Chicago, who began his dance training with Ms. Geraldine Johnson and credits much of his artistic development with Harriet Ross, has the unique privilege to be a three-time recipient of Chicago’s prestigious Ruth Page Award for Outstanding Choreographer of the Year. For 19 years, Randy danced and upon the untimely death of Joseph Holmes, served the Artistic Director of The Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre. He has received numerous awards including the Artistic Achievement Award from the Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, three Black Theatre Alliance Awards, and the Gay Chicago Magazine After Dark Award. He earned an American Choreography Award Nomination for his choreography in the block buster movie Save the Last Dance, starring Julia Stiles. Mr. Duncan’s work has been seen in the companies of Joffrey Ballet, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Ballet Met, and many others. He has created choreography for such theatres as the Goodman, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory, Actor’s Theatre, Court Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Washington Shakespeare Theatre, and Portland Opera. Most recently, Randy’s work can be seen in season four of Showtime’s The Chi. For the past 29 years he has been on the faculty of The Chicago Academy for the Arts, where he now serves as Dance Department Chair and received the 2019 Faculty Legacy Award. Randy has been choreographing the finale for Chicago’s annual Dance for Life Gala since 1994 and has received the 2013 AIDS Foundation Chicago Civic Leadership Award for his work with Dance for Life. He sits on the board of Chicago Dancers United, and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and the Stage, Directors, and Choreographers Union.

FLOCK

Alice Klock and Florian Lochner (FLOCK) met while serving as dancers and Choreographic Fellows atHubbard Street Dance Chicago. In 2017 they created FLOCK through which they perform their own work internationally and co-create new choreography for film and stage. Their most recent FLOCK productions include touring shows Familiar and Somewhere Between. As a team they have choreographed for multiple dance companies, universities, and cultural institutions including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Whim W’Him, Ballet Idaho, Orsolina 28, Seattle Dance Collective, Ballet Arkansas, the Goethe Institut, Adaptations Dance Theater, University of Iowa, Booker T. Washington School for the Performing Arts, the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA, and the 92nd Street Y. In all of their work they strive to bring artists and audiences together in environments that are open, dynamic, and based on joy.

RENNIE HARRIS

Known for bringing social dances to the concert stage and coining the term Street Dance Theater, Rennie Harris has broken new ground as one of the first Hip-hop choreographers to set works on ballet-based companies such as Ballet Memphis, Colorado Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco), Giordano Dance Chicago, Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Cleo Parker Robinson, Dallas Black Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and more. He is also the first street dancer commissioned to create an evening-length work on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and to serve as a resident artist at the Alvin Ailey School for Dance. He’s received three Bessie Awards, five Black Theater Alvin Ailey Awards, an Herb Alpert Award, and been nominated for a Lawrence Olivier Award (UK). He has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in choreography (McCullum Theater, 2019). Harris was also voted one of the most influential people in the last one hundred years of Philadelphia’s history (City Paper), and has been compared to Basquiat, Alvin Ailey, and Bob Fosse. In addition, he’s received a Guggenheim Fellowship, PEW Fellowship, a USA Artist of the Year Fellowship, a Governor’s Artist of the Year Award, and is noted as the first street dancer to receive two honorary doctorate degrees from both Bates College (Lewiston, ME) and Columbia College (Chicago, IL). He served as a cultural ambassador for Ronald Reagan’s US Embassy Tour in 1986 and was invited to the White House by the Clinton Administration to share in the recognition of African American artists making a difference in the world (2001). Rennie Harris Puremovement has performed for such dignitaries as the Queen of England and the Princess’ of Monaco, and was chosen as one of four US companies to serve as cultural ambassadors for President Obama's Dance Motion USA and toured Israel, Jordan, Ramulah, Egypt, Palestine, and surrounding countries. Lorenzo "Rennie" Harris is atop the Hip-hop heap as its leading ambassador. Harris is a recent recipient of the Doris Duke artist award (2020).

MARIA TORRES

Maria Torres is a world-renowned Choreographer, Director, Producer, and Performer whose contributions have led Latinos in the arts. Credits include Bway & National Tour of Swing! (Tony/Drama Desk/Lucille Lortel/Theater World nominations); Seagrams DJ Live Show (Clio Award); Latin Billboard Awards (Telemundo). Off-Bway: Latin Heat, Four Guys Named Jose (Carbonelle nom), The Donkey Show Off B’way (A.R.T.), Mambo Kings, Celia: The Life & Times of Celia Cruz; Don Omar “King of Kings” (US Tour), Disney’s Golden Mickeys (International Tour). Regional: Man of La Mancha (5th Avenue Theater), Zoot Suit (Mark Taper Theatre). Film: Dance With Me (Alma nom), Disney’s Enchanted (Critics Choice), El Cantante (Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony), Fugly (John Leguizamo), Physical Attraction (Dir. Guy Guido). She is an active member of SDC and the League of Professional Theater Women. Current projects include Lovin’ Brooklyn (film), Pasion (theatre), and Havana Music Hall (development). She is also a philanthropist with a strong desire to encourage aspiring artists and create connections between supporting organizations that will essentially give back to youth and her own Latina roots. In establishing the Maria Torres Emerging Artists Foundation (MTEAF), she has created unique opportunities for both students in underprivileged communities and determined professional youth to experience the performing arts at the highest of levels. Many of her latest projects, including the dynamic new podcast “Hourglass: Time To Talk,” offer insight into the professional performing arts industry while focusing on personal connections to humanity and life. Torres is actively engaged in the community, focusing on building a reliable network that will uplift, inspire and “pay it forward.” After years of teaching, mentoring, and advocating, she founded the Maria Torres Emerging Artists Foundation (MTEAF), which also stands for Motivation, Teaching, Education, Action, and Fellowship. MTEAF is a rigorous, interdisciplinary educational and mentorship program in the performing arts empowering pre-teens and young adults from multiethnic and underserved communities to achieve their goals as professionals in the entertainment industry.