STOMPING GROUNDS
Starting in 2015, CHRP presented STOMPING GROUNDS, a two- to three-month, City-wide performance and education festival in communities throughout Chicago showcasing many of the city’s most accomplished percussive dance companies and independent artists. Throughout the festival’s five years, unique combinations of artists and ensembles performed and taught in schools, community cultural centers and major venues throughout Chicago.
STOMPING GROUNDS evolved from an earlier, annual CHRP performance series - GLOBAL RHYTHMS - that began in 2005 with the presentation of STRIPES from Japan and Vata Tap from Brazil. Global Rhythms featured extraordinary percussive arts companies from around the globe like Israel's Sheketak, Canada's ScrapArtsMusic and another company from Japan - the taiko drumming sensation - TAO. Joined in 2010 by Chicago-based companies like Sones de Mexico and Be The Groove, Global Rhythms provided a nexus of cultural exchange, rhythm culture and diversity.
STOMPING GROUNDS was built to showcase every possible dialect of rhythm in every neighborhood of Chicago and to celebrate them all . . . TOGETHER!
STOMPING GROUNDS is currently in a planning phase which will enable us to bring the program to more schools, theaters and community cultural centers throughout the year. Stay tuned for updates by joining our mailing list HERE.
Past Performing Companies and Independent Artists
Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater
World-Renowned Spanish Dance Company Based in Chicago
Mexican Dance Ensemble
Community based company composed of professional and talented dancers and musicians
Itotia Mexica Xi
Aztec performance dance company - committed to engage the youth and educate
Trinity Irish Dance Company
uniquely Irish-American company that was the birthplace of progressive Irish dance, an innovative movement genre which “ushered in a new era for Irish step dance”.
Natya Dance Theatre
One of the most critically acclaimed and culturally treasured Indian dance companies in the United States.
Collaborative Institute
of Cultural Arts
Promotes cultural awareness and art appreciation through the celebration of Mexican Folkloric Dance
Ishti Collective
Creates a synergistic environment through dance, music, and storytelling where artists engage with the community to generate meaningful dialogue and push the boundaries of their art.
Muntu Dance Theatre
51 years of service, arts excellence and education!
The Mexican Folkloric
Dance Company
Celebrating 40 years of Mexican Dance!
Kalapriya Center for Indian Performing Arts
Presents India’s artistic diversity through performing arts that preserve traditional South Asian art forms, and that build bridges between the performing arts and our contemporary lives.
Stone Soup Rhythms
A collective of emerging and established tap dance artists who bend time and space to make new work
Nico Rubio
Tap Dancer, Teacher, Student & Achiever
Tristan Bruns
Chicago tap dancer who has received training under Donna Johnson, Ted Louis Levy, Sam Weber and Martin “Tre” Dumas III
Past Performance Venues
Chicago Cultural Center
One of the most visited attractions in Chicago
Carruthers Center
Harris Theater
Proud to be Chicago's home for music and dance
Beverly Arts Center
Garfield Park Conservatory
One of the largest and most stunning botanical conservatories in the nation.
Links Hall
A focal point for the African-American community in Chicago
Do theatre your way!
A pillar of Chicago’s cultural ecosystem since its founding in 1978 by staying nimble and responsive, funneling resources equitably and directly to performing artists.
Our programs and exhibitions capture the wide range of Mexican cultural expressions and art forms, from ancient to modern and on both sides of the border.
DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center
The Nation’s Oldest Independent African American Museum Celebrating 62 Years.
Provides the very best in Irish culture through the arts, history, education, dance and social outlets.
National Museum of Mexican Art
Irish American Heritage Center
Auditorium Theater
has a past that follows the path of Chicago’s history, from the Great Chicago Fire and World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 to the great rock and roll era of the 1960s and 1970s to the present.
Studebaker Theater
First emerged as a music and opera hall in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hosting a variety of acts and performers.
Pearl Paint, Sip and Hip
A new spin on the classic paint and sip concept
Past Performance Gallery
Funding
STOMPING GROUNDS is made possible with major support from the Chicago Free For All Fund at The Chicago Community Trust and Engaging Dance Audiences (a program managed by Dance USA and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation) with additional funding from The Saints and National Endowment for the Arts. Chicago Human Rhythm Project is supported by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, BMO Harris, The Arlen and Elaine Cohen Rubin Charitable Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, The Jeanette & Jerome Cohen Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, Phil and Marsha Dowd, National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Broadway in Chicago, Illinois Arts Council Agency, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, L&L Hardwood Flooring, Peoples Gas, The Service Club of Chicago, and generous individual donors.