On a warm July afternoon, Princess Mhoon, the director of the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project, was sitting in a bustling cafe on the outskirts of the University of Chicago’s campus in Hyde Park.

“I was a theater baby,” she said, describing the Chicago arts world in which she grew up. Her parents met in an African dance class, and her father was a drummer for local dance companies. “I have memories of sitting in the theater during tech rehearsals,” she continued. “We could not eat candy. In the Black Arts Movement, there was no junk food. So, we had cherry vitamin C — that was my candy.”

The companies involved in the project — established in 2019 by the Joyce Foundation and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago — have all persevered in the face of significant disparities in funding. A 2019 report, titled “Mapping the Dance Landscape in Chicagoland,” showed that organizations like the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in predominantly white sections of the city, have been the major recipients of grant dollars, even as more than 30% of dancers and choreographers in Chicago identify as Black.

The companies involved in the project — established in 2019 by the Joyce Foundation and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago — have all persevered in the face of significant disparities in funding. A 2019 report, titled “Mapping the Dance Landscape in Chicagoland,” showed that organizations like the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in predominantly white sections of the city, have been the major recipients of grant dollars, even as more than 30% of dancers and choreographers in Chicago identify as Black.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 72

Deerfield's Nikki Kerstein (1), trying to dribble past Carmel's Jordan Wood (left) and Ashley Schlabowske (foreground left), during the Class 3A Deerfield Sectional championship game, on Thursday, February 23, 2023. (Mark Ukena for Lake County News-Sun)

Test Caption

(Mark Kodiak Ukena / Lake County News-Sun)

The companies involved in the project — established in 2019 by the Joyce Foundation and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago — have all persevered in the face of significant disparities in funding. A 2019 report, titled “Mapping the Dance Landscape in Chicagoland,” showed that organizations like the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in predominantly white sections of the city, have been the major recipients of grant dollars, even as more than 30% of dancers and choreographers in Chicago identify as Black.

The companies involved in the project — established in 2019 by the Joyce Foundation and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago — have all persevered in the face of significant disparities in funding. A 2019 report, titled “Mapping the Dance Landscape in Chicagoland,” showed that organizations like the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in predominantly white sections of the city, have been the major recipients of grant dollars, even as more than 30% of dancers and choreographers in Chicago identify as Black.

The companies involved in the project — established in 2019 by the Joyce Foundation and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago — have all persevered in the face of significant disparities in funding. A 2019 report, titled “Mapping the Dance Landscape in Chicagoland,” showed that organizations like the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in predominantly white sections of the city, have been the major recipients of grant dollars, even as more than 30% of dancers and choreographers in Chicago identify as Black.

The companies involved in the project — established in 2019 by the Joyce Foundation and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago — have all persevered in the face of significant disparities in funding. A 2019 report, titled “Mapping the Dance Landscape in Chicagoland,” showed that organizations like the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in predominantly white sections of the city, have been the major recipients of grant dollars, even as more than 30% of dancers and choreographers in Chicago identify as Black.

The companies involved in the project — established in 2019 by the Joyce Foundation and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago — have all persevered in the face of significant disparities in funding. A 2019 report, titled “Mapping the Dance Landscape in Chicagoland,” showed that organizations like the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in predominantly white sections of the city, have been the major recipients of grant dollars, even as more than 30% of dancers and choreographers in Chicago identify as Black.

The companies involved in the project — established in 2019 by the Joyce Foundation and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago — have all persevered in the face of significant disparities inwhite sections of the city, have been the major recipients of grant dollars, even as more than 30% of dancers and choreographers in Chicago identify as Black.