ABOUT

At Darvin Dances, we believe dance belongs to everyone: not just those who can afford a ticket or classes. This summer, with the support of Night Out in the Parks, we’re bringing that belief to life with 3 free outdoor performances featuring “Take A Chance” and “The Choreographic Mad Lib.” We’d love for you to be a part of making it happen.

We want to invite people in, especially those who’ve never set foot at a dance performance. Our two pieces, “Take A Chance” and “The Choreographic Mad Lib,” are designed to do exactly that. Both works are shaped in real time by the audience, making every performance completely unique.

In "Take A Chance", the audience chooses the costumes and music for the dancers. As Isabel Campisteguy of See Chicago Dance writes - "The audience’s choice feels immediately evident, as the dresses transform the visual texture of the slow, contracting choreography. With every falling turn, unfolding développé, and sweeping kick, the skirts bloom like clouds of black ink dispersing through water, leaving soft arches and rippling trails across the stage."

For "The Choreographic Mad Lib", we take another approach entirely: using a mad lib format, audience members contribute verbs, adverbs, noises, and even choose which movement phrases and dancers performing the movement. The result is a structured improvisation guided entirely by their input. After each section, the audience discovers what their mad lib said and watches how their words came alive in the movement.

Shedd Park

3660 W. 23rd St. Chicago, IL 60623

July 9th at 5:30pm

Owens Park

8800 S. Clyde Ave Chicago, IL 60617

July 23rd at 5:30pm

Horner Park

2741 W. Montrose Ave. Chicago, IL 60618

July 30th at 5:30pm

WHY

Free performances don’t fund themselves. To bring these shows to park goers across Chicago at no cost, we need to cover the expenses that ticket sales would normally handle: dancer rehearsal pay and performance stipends, equipment, costumes, gas for carpooling to Shedd Park in Little Village and Owens Park in South Calumet, and social media marketing.

Night Out in the Parks is generously covering performance fees for dancers through a grant ($880) and providing our printed marketing materials free of charge (a $95–$250 value). We’re grateful for their support: and now we’re turning to you to help us cover the rest.

Our dancers currently receive a bimonthly stipend for 3 hours of rehearsal per week - ranging from $150 to $190 depending on how long they’ve been with the company. We’re actively working toward a true hourly rate by 2027 through additional grants, merchandise, and a diversified funding structure. In the meantime, we’d love to give each dancer an extra $125 performance bonus to honor the work they’re putting in this summer.

HOW

Every dollar goes directly toward making this summer’s performances possible. Here’s exactly what your contribution covers:

$750 gives each of our dancers a $125 performance bonus, a meaningful step toward the hourly rate of $17/hour ($204/month) we’re working to make standard.

While we work toward a living wage, we do everything we can to show our dancers they’re valued: buying snacks for performances, free head shots and dance photography, consistent stipends regardless of illness or absence, coffee at rehearsals, Uber coverage when needed, professional references, audition leads, and feedback on resumes and choreography proposals.

Until we can offer full-time wages and benefits, we actively support our dancers in building sustainable careers in dance: whether through teaching, performing with other companies, or developing their own choreography.

$500 funds a Bluetooth speaker powerful enough for a large outdoor park; and an investment that will keep giving, enabling us to perform in community centers, schools, and venues without built-in sound systems long after this summer.

$370 covers the bimonthly rehearsal stipends of our two longest-standing company members: the artists who’ve helped build Darvin Dances into what it is today.

$150 covers a bimonthly rehearsal stipend for one of our newest dancers, someone just beginning to find their place in the company.

$80 pays for costume alterations by our resident seamstress extraordinaire, Alicia Wilson — whose skill keeps our dancers looking sharp and performance-ready.

$40 helps our dancers get to park locations far from home. With gas prices what they are, carpooling support is one of the most direct ways we can take care of our team.

$20 outfits one dancer for outdoor performances. Two of the three park performances happen on concrete, so we invested in athletic dresses that move beautifully and hold up to the elements.

$10 buys three dancers’ coffees for rehearsal — a small gesture that means a lot during long rehearsals.

HOW WE THANK YOU!

$750+

A personal shout-out at each park performance (just let us know if you’d prefer privacy!), a heartfelt thank-you video from our dancers and directors, one free Darvin Dances t-shirt, coffee with the director, and two free tickets to Halloween Creepy Crawlies on October 11th

$350+

A personal shout-out at each park performance (opt-out anytime), a heartfelt thank-you video from our dancers and directors, coffee with the director, and one free Darvin Dances t-shirt

$150+

A personal shout-out at each park performance (opt-out anytime), a heartfelt thank-you video from our dancers and directors, and one free Darvin Dances t-shirt

$75+

A personal shout-out at each park performance (opt-out anytime) and a heartfelt thank-you video from our dancers and directors

$10+

A personal shout-out at each park performance (opt-out anytime) and a handwritten thank-you card from Darvin Dances

Free Park Performances: The Dance You Made