It’s process time around here at South Chicago Dance Theatre! And from right now until perhaps the end of 2024, we are diving in to a new artistic process with our own Director of Vision and Strategy, Kia S. Smith! You may be wondering – what is process? It could be something you’ve heard of before in the artistic world but you may not know how it directly correlates to dance and HOW we make or choreograph a piece.

Well – I’m here to give you the inside scoop…

Every choreographer and person’s process is totally different, just as everyone’s approach to learning or creating tends to be different. Some artists prefer to work in a linear fashion, whilst others jump from middle to beginning to end to middle all over again. Some choreographers prefer to set things in stone right away, whilst others prefer to change things constantly and let the first time something is set to be a mold that can shift and develop over time.

When it comes to working with Kia, the ladder is typically more true. Kia is a true creative, and after working in her process for the past five years, I’ve come to know that things with change, develop, get scrapped, get enhanced, and move around over time. It’s exciting to watch something start as a seed and form into a beautiful piece.

For us as dancers, the development of a piece usually starts with what we call “phrases” or snippets of movement strung together. Sometimes Kia will attach these phrases to movement, other times not. We as her dancers have to be very flexible and also remember as much as we can when it comes to all of the phrases. We have what I like to call, “Big Brains”.

Kia is just this week starting to work on her piece for our May 3rd show at the Auditorium Theatre. The piece titled “Limitless” will likely include all of us dancers and is a half-evening length work. Just this week, we’ve been working on phrases. Sometimes as a group, duets, solos, etc. but it is solely the preliminary part of the process. We are excited to continue to work on this process and, of course, I will be here to update you on it throughout the various stages.

Hopefully this gives you a small window into what process looks like! Onward and upward to more process in the coming weeks!!