PEP TALK

At the end of June, Chicago's The Dance Team, a network of young dance-makers trained at the University of Illinois, was called up off the bench to create a full-length dance for three performances in the second annual Chicago Fringe Festival this September. Thank, Coach! We won't let you down!

THE ROSTER

This installment of The Dance Team features Emily Braun, Amanda Pesch, Amy Swanson, Lesley Werle, Vienna Willems and special guest artist Laura Chiaramonte, with choreography by Chris Knowlton in collaboration with the rest of the Team.

OUR PLAYBOOK

Expanding on our recent work, "Hub and Spoke" takes us back to the rural Midwest during the Dust Bowl. We kick at the roots of our city in small moments of laboring, community building, celebration and grieving, all driven by chains of cause-and-effect that continue today. Aside from vintage costuming and American folk music, we are incorporating smells, such as coffee and alfalfa, during live performances. Smells have a strong physiological link to memory, and thus to our own personal pasts. The parallels drawn between then and now will explore how the past is the axle that turns the wheel of the future.

RULES OF THE GAME

Funds pay for our festival participation fee, rehearsal space, marketing, filming of the work and minor costuming. After that, all funds go directly to our dancers. Kickstarter is all or nothing. If we do not reach our goal of $900 by our deadline, you do not get charged and we do not get funded. If we do, you do, we do and I do a little diddy.

PRACTICE GOOD FANMANSHIP

The knowledge that you are supporting independent and upcoming artists is the best reward of all. Or is it? Look to the right for the swanky rewards you can get! Rewards are cumulative, so climb the ranks and collect them all.

Support The Dance Team, because it's your team.

... AND BREAK!