By Walter Rutledge
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Tag: Gary Abbott
8/22/25 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project’s Artists Speak
By Walter Rutledge
The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP) 2025 presentation, Unbound: Shattered Frames, Endless Visions will grace the stage of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance this Saturday, August 23, 6pm. This unprecedented dance/theatre event showcases ten of Chicago’s most dynamic and diverse dance companies. The event is more than a dance concert. The production is a collective of Chicago-based artists celebrating the continued historic contributions of the Black dance community on the city’s cultural landscape. Continue reading
8/19/25 O&A NYC DANCE: The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project And Dr. King’s Beloved Community
By Walter Rutledge
The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP) will present Unbound: Shattered Frames, Endless Visions on Saturday August 23, 6pm at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance (205 E. Randolph Street). Co- Directors Kevin Iega Jeff and Mashaune Hardy in coordination with co-curators Gary Abbott and Jeff have assembled a cast of ten of Chicago’s most exciting and progressive dance companies. This production will put meaning/message to movement for a transformative evening celebrating the city’s Black dance excellence. It will also emphasize the historic impact of Black dance on the cultural identity of the city of Chicago. Continue reading
8/14/25 O&A NYC DANCE: Kevin Iega Jeff and The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project – Pedagogy. Community. Legacy
By Walter Rutledge
Life is an ever changing, ever evolving adventure. On the adventure life requires us to react, adapt and hopefully reinvent. Sadly, when we stop making history we become a part of history.
Kevin Iega Jeff continues to make history. His latest adventure is the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP) in Unbound: Shattered Frames, Endless Visions, which will premiere Aug 23, 2025, 6:00pm at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance (205 E. Randolph Street). Jeff is both the Co-Director (Mashaune Hardy Co – Director) and Co- Curator (Gary Abbott Co – Curator) of this production, which promises to be evening of Black Dance excellence. CBDLP unites ten Chicago dance companies for an evening of diverse and artistically/socially relevant performances. Continue reading
9/22/19 O&A NYC DANCE- REVIEW: Legacy- Creative Outlet and Deeply Rooted at BAM Fisher
By Walter Rutledge
Legacy, a shared concert between Brooklyn based Jamel Gaine’s Creative Outlet and Chicago’s Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, presented a well curated evening of dance theatre works at BAM Fisher on Friday and Saturday September 13 and 14, 2019. Founding directors Jamel Gaines and Deeply Rooted’s Kevin Jeff (both Queens natives and Bernice Johnson Dance School alums) presented a concert of shared dance philosophies. The evening had a kindred aesthetic; presenting seven works spanning thirty-five years. Continue reading
12/8/14 O&A REVIEW: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater- Generations II Here’s To Life!
By Walter Rutledge
Deeply Rooted Dance Theater presented Generations II Here’s To Life! for three performances; Friday, November 21 through Sunday November 23 in the James and Martha Duffy Performance Space at the Mark Morris Dance Center, downtown Brooklyn. The Chicago based ensemble presented a concert that was deeply rooted in the dance theatre tradition. Artistic Director Kevin Iega Jeff and Associate Artistic Director Gary Abbott have made the courageous decision to offer original dance works that ranged from dance narratives to theatrical abstract works with strong dramatic undertones. The result was an evening of well structured choreography performed with considerable artistic depth. Continue reading
