Photo by Topher Alexander, Lakeshore Park 2018

Photos by A. Deran Photography

OUR MISSION

Dance in the Parks’ mission is to bring free, professional dance performances to new audiences in the most accessible venues in Chicago—neighborhood parks. We hope to expose audiences unfamiliar with dance to the art form as well as to local performers and choreographers in a relaxed, casual atmosphere in order to build future relationships with the greater Chicago dance community.

Since 2009, Dance in the Parks has partnered with the Chicago Park District and the mayor's Night Out in the Parks' initiative to perform professional dance concerts in Chicago's neighborhood parks. Our company of professional dancers perform works created by Chicago-based choreographers. At each park, we partner with a youth training program from the community to showcase the young talent in each neighborhood.

In our 15 seasons, we have performed in 70 parks in 53 neighborhoods, hired 171 dance artists, and performed 113 dance pieces for over 17,000 audience members.