Lake County Gazette

This year, Lake Forest College’s Artist in Residence (AIR) committee invited two Chicago dance companies to campus for performances and workshops.

The groups involved with the Lake Forest College community this year are Circles and Ciphers, a hip-hop infused company, and Natya Dance Theatre, an Indian dance company.

Circles and Ciphers came to campus on February 21 and 22. The dance company, according to their mission, is a “restorative justice organization led by and for young people impacted by violence. ” The group blends art and education with direct action to work towards prison abolition.

Natya Dance Theatre will perform at 7 p.m. on March 27 in an event co- sponsored by the South Asian Student Organization. “Rooted in Bharata Natyam, one of the great classical dance forms of India, NDT preserves and perpetuates Bharata Natyam in all its classical rigor, and moves the art form in innovative directions to foster cultural exchange through dance,” the dance theater’s mission states.

“Both companies are groups of artists where movement is very central to their practice in very different ways,” Associate Professor of Theater and Performance Studies and AIR committee co-chair Chloe Johnston said. “This year, the Artist in Residence Committee wanted to focus on movement because we have noticed that there has been a lot of incredible student dance happening in the last couple of years. ”

The College will be offering the Intro to Dance class this and next year to support student interest in dance. “We felt there was a desire on campus to do more dance-based activity,” Johnston said.