The Dance COLEctive
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The Dance COLEctive (TDC) is a Chicago, Illinois based, modern dance company, created to preserve, advance and strengthen the art of contemporary dance in Chicago, Illinois and beyond. In fulfilling its mission and vision, TDC: Embraces collaboration as a core element of its creative process, values the athleticism, grace, power, and strength of its dancers, and nurtures and promotes the creativity of emerging artists. Over the past 13 years TDC has contributed to the support of 15 choreographers, 53 dancers and 58 collaborating artists, many of them Illinois artists. Their success is largely attributed to Artistic Director, Margi Cole and her company.
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[edit] Mission
The Dance COLEctive aspires to challenge assumptions about how dance is presented, through the use of cutting-edge choreography, innovative collaborations, and inspired creative site-specific-works.
[edit] Repertoire
TDC produces its own concerts, and participates in multi-artist festivals such as The Other Dance Festival, Dance Chicago, the Estrogen Fest, Stockyards Women’s Theatre Festival and the Next Dance Festival. Self-produced concerts have been presented at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, Harold Washington Library Theater, Northwestern University, Ruth Page Center, and Links Hall.
TDC features site-specific work as a part of its annual repertoire. The company has performed site-specific pieces at the Illinois State Fair and in the City of Chicago’s Millennium Project and Looptopia. Other site-specific locations include: the John G. Blank Center for the Arts in Indiana, Chicago Symphony Center Day of Music, Mayor Daley’s April Neighborhood Assembly, the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago’s 1306 Project, Columbia College Chicago graduation ceremonies, various building lobbies in Chicago, Gorham's Bluff, Alabama, and the Birmingham Museum of Art.
[edit] Residencies and Partnerships
TDC maintains a strong presence in Chicago through classes and workshops at the community level. The company conducts workshops, classes, and lecture demonstrations at area high schools and colleges. Past hosts include Stevenson, Evanston Township, Riverside Brookfield, and Northside Prep High Schools and Chicago Semester. Since 2001 the company has held an annual summer dance intensive in Chicago. In 2008 the company instituted annual Chicago residencies built around themes presented in the annual concert. Past residency activity hosts include a number of Chicago Park District sites, the Newberry Library, and the Chicago Cultural Center.
The company conducts one or two residencies annually. These residencies include performances, workshops, master classes, lecture demonstrations and panel discussions. They provide the company an opportunity to work with people from all walks of life - rural, urban, young, old, privileged, low-income, men and women. Residencies can culminate with informal showings new work developed during the residency which engage participants in feedback sessions for the work or evening length repertory concerts. Past residency hosts include Beloit College, Knox College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Huntsville Community Ballet, and a variety of studios and schools in Alabama and Tennessee.
TDC maintains a long term artistic partnership with the Alabama Ballet. TDC Artistic Director Margi Cole has taught for the company’s Summer Intensive and has created new works for the company since 1999. One such work, "Tell It By Heart," won the Panoply Award for Best Modern Choreography in 2000.
[edit] Margi Cole
Margi Cole, Artistic Director and founder of The Dance COLEctive, has received recognition for her contribution to the field of modern dance through awards such as the Illinois Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship, a Chicago Dancemakers Forum grant and the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, a program which selects leaders in their respective fields to represent the United States on a month-long tour of European countries. TDC received its first grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for its Southeast Tour in March 2008.
She has also been acknowledged for her choreography and performing in Chicago by nominations from the Ruth Page Awards. Her works have been performed in several venues including The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago where she was a two-time recipient of a Choreographic Mentoring Scholarship. Cole's works have been showcased in several venues including: Northwestern University, The Dance Center-Columbia College Chicago, Links Hall, Chicago's Next Dance Festival, First Night Springfield, Dance Chicago, the Harold Washington Library and performed site-specific works at the Glessner House Museum, the Illinois State Fair, the Chicago Symphony Center Day of Music and Gorham's Bluff in Alabama. The Alabama Ballet, Springfield Ballet Company, the Birmingham Museum of Art and Columbia College have commissioned Cole's works.
Margi has danced with numerous well-known choreographers and companies including: Ralph Lemon, Stephen Koplowitz, Ann Boyd, David Rousseve, Bill Young, Douglas Nielsen, Timothy O'Slynne, Paula Frasz, Colleen Halloran, Mad Shak Dance Company, Mordine & Company Dance Theatre, Renee Wadleigh and Ellie Klopp. Margi is active in the Chicago dance community as an arts administrator, dancer and choreographer and is a member of the Columbia College Chicago Alumni Board
Ms. Cole graduated from the Alabama School of Fine Arts, received a BA from Columbia College Chicago and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As an instructor Margi has taught in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama and at the American College Dance Festival. She served on the faculty at the University of Illinois where she was on the list of "Teachers Rated Excellent by their Students" for four consecutive semesters and is presently a part-time faculty member at Columbia College Chicago. Cole was a winner at the Panoply Festival 2001 Choreography Competition in Huntsville, AL, for her work "Tell It By Heart".
