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2023 Co-Mission Festival of New Works: Destine (D'Roc) Young + Rigo Saura

Friday, June 23, 2023
7:00 PM 8:00 PM

Links Hall 3111 North Western Avenue Chicago, IL, 60618 United States (map)

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DESTINE (D’ROC) YOUNG
+ RIGO SAURA

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Destine (D'Roc) Young’s Systems & Sanctuaries

Part of Links Hall’s 2023 Co-MISSION Festival of New Works

Destine (D'Roc) Young’s Systems & Sanctuaries tells the story of a woman who comes to discover her shadow through embodying the trauma and pain she has endured throughout her life. Through Dance and Verbal expression, she grapples with the conditions of being a Black woman in this world. Existing in all her ways with her different images, she recognizes womanhood as a shapeshifting, sacred, and load-bearing transparency. She is curious to explore the feeling of moving in and out of different perspectives of what a woman is through resisting societal ideologies and channeling stories of black women who fought to exist as their whole authentic 'self'. System & Sanctuaries shifts the paradigms of masculinity vs. femininity as an 'either or' quality of what makes up a woman.

Rigo Saura’s KUBA

Part of Links Hall’s 2023 Co-MISSION Festival of New Works

Rigo Saura’s KUBA is an exploration of Saura’s cultural roots. Weaving Latin and Afro-Cuban history together, Rigo’s improvisational movement is set against a wide backdrop of historical motion pictures of everyday life in Cuba. He focuses on the method of choreography through repetition, emphasizing Cuban movement qualities in relation to music, mood, and an internalized experience of his roots. Saura’s new work proposes that we are more connected than we realize and that we are more alike than we are different.

What one audience member had to say: “The movement of the performer is juxtaposed with the visuals projected on the background. The visuals are of community, joyfulness, and the vibrant life of Cuba… the movement is so rigid and felt like the dancer was trying to get out of his own skin.”

Destine (D'Roc) Young (Co-MISSION Artist-in-Residence) is a native Chicagoan who began dancing at an early age. Holding a B.A. in Dance from Columbia College Chicago, she works extensively as a performer, educator, curator and choreographer exploring relationships between contemporary, martial arts, and hip-hop street dance. 'The Ground Rhythm Method' is her movement-based healing method that supports social, mental, and spiritual development. Awards include: 2023 Links Hall Co-Mission Residency Award, 2020 DCASE IAP Grant, 2019 Chicago Park District NOIP Grant, 2018 Chicago Community Trust Young Leaders Fund Award, and HCL 2018 Sponsored Artist. Destine is enrolled in the Masters Program at Bradley University to become a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. She is also a company member with Red Clay Dance.

Rigo Saura (Co-MISSION Artist-in-Residence) graduated from the National School of Modern and Contemporary Dance in Havana, Cuba. Since moving to Chicago, he’s been part of The Ruth Page Center for the Arts and guest artist/instructor for the Professional Program at Hubbard Street Dance Company. A dancer, teacher, and choreographer with Hedwig Dances, Ruth Page Civic Ballet, and guest artist/instructor with Visceral Dance Chicago, Rigo was a 2021 Artist-in-Residence with the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Production Residency, in partnership with The Ruth Page Center for the Arts and Performance Response Journal and sponsored by the Walder Foundation.