Dance at Illinois Downtown features a contemporary African dance work by Dr. C. Kemal Nance with live music performed by an assembly of local drummers. MFA candidate Anna Peretz Rogovoy offers an exploration inspired by the formal structures and behaviors of the botanical world. Post-Doctoral Fellow Alexandra Barbier performs a solo inspired by her background in experimental dance and her burgeoning research on queer, Black vernacular dance. New faculty and former Merce Cunningham Dance Company member Paige Cunningham Caldarella premieres a group work exploring intersections between Contemporary Ballet and the Cunningham Technique. Professor Rebecca Nettl-Fiol presents excerpts from her Danse Soirée de Bonbons with music by Jacques Brel. And, a reconstruction of “Women Gather” by the late Dr. Kariamu Welsh, dance pioneer and founder of the Umfundalai technique will be presented.