In Motion:

think just being a part of this project helps us grow and affirms what we’re doing in the community of Chicago.”

Muhammed notes that many of Move Me Soul’s current leaders trained with the other companies in the cohort in their youth, including Najwa Dance Corps, Joel Hall Dancers & Center and the Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center. She’s optimistic that the organization’s work nurturing the next generation of Chicago dancers will continue the cycle of bolstering the community as their students go on to pursue their own careers in the arts or elsewhere.

Since 2008, Chicago dance organization Move Me Soul has shaped the lives of hundreds of local teens through preprofessional dance training.

The company was born out of a dance elective course led by founder and artistic director Ayesha Jaco at Austin High School. Inspired by the success of that class, she adapted her teachings—which center storytelling and technique in a wide mix of styles—into a teen apprenticeship program through Chicago arts nonprofit A er School Matters and a youth ensemble she called Move Me Soul.

“[Jaco] began to do something different for the community,” says Move Me Soul executive director Diana Muhammad. “This was the first time that ballet, modern, jazz, and West African dance were introduced to this community on a preprofessional level.”

Muhammad first heard of Move Me Soul while she was running south-side dance company and youth program DADA Dance Connection. “I realized that what [Jaco] was doing on the west side with teens, I was trying to create and build the same opportunity on the south side,” Muhammad says. “So what we decided to do was join forces.”

In 2010, Muhammad officially joined Move Me Soul as an instructor, and in 2012 she was named executive director to help Jaco expand the company’s A er School Matters beyond Austin to the city’s south side. Soon, they also launched a downtown program at the Gallery 37 Center for the Arts.

In addition to their youth ensemble and apprenticeships, Move Me Soul has expanded their vision to include elementary school students, with educational programming that integrates dance vocabulary and history with core subjects such as reading comprehension and math. And last fall, Move Me Soul introduced a new initiative at Prairie-Hills School District that fuses dance and music with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) curriculum for students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

“We’re very proud of this program because it is standard curriculum based,” Muhammad says. “The classes are also enhanced by using West African drumming to incorporate a music component that studies counting and patterns using rhythms.”

Move Me Soul marked a major milestone in 2018 with the launch of a professional dance company (many members are former Move Me Soul students). They’re currently generating new choreography and showcasing the company’s signature works, including Chississippi Mixtape, which tells the story of the Great Migration, and Curtis Suite & Sour, a dance tribute to Chicago soul icon Curtis Mayfield. The company will premiere a new excerpt from the latter on December 16, in celebration of the organization’s 15th anniversary, which they have dubbed Move Me Soul Day. They’ll also be performing with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in late July and early August.

Earlier this year, Move Me Soul joined a select cohort of local Black-led dance organizations in the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP). Launched in 2019, CBDLP works to reduce inequities by providing a select cohort of Black dance organizations with funding, operational support, and performance opportunities. Move Me Soul’s leadership says the experience has been especially valuable while they continue rebuilding a er temporarily halting in-person operations during the first part of the pandemic (though they were able to offer the apprenticeship program virtually).

“[We are focusing] on building our capacity from the management side,” Muhammad says of their participation in CBDLP. “I

“It’s a beautiful pipeline that we try to create,” Muhammad says. “Youth come in and understand what it means to become a professional dancer and all-around person that has a great character, and we develop them up to where they can go on to anywhere and do anything.”

And in fact, many Move Me Soul students have already found success as professional dancers, choreographers, and arts educators. Company member Bryonna Young began training with Move Me Soul when she was in 8th grade, and says the experience has brought her unexpected opportunities, including the chance to perform in Jamaica.

“Through Move Me Soul, I’ve been able to increase my passion for dance and teaching, and I’m grateful for the chance to give back by teaching in the program I grew up in,” Young says.

Likewise, former apprentice artist Joshua Francique transitioned from Move Me Soul to work with Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, where he became a member of the company. He’s since moved to California, where he is a principal dancer at Alonzo King LINES ballet.

“[Move Me Soul] gi ed me not only the joy of soul and movement but of community,” Francique says. “MMS bestowed upon me a life altering impact that led me to achieve my wildest dreams.”

“We actually created and cultivated these dancers in terms of everything—their dance etiquette, their dance technique, and the feeling and the emotion that they put into it,” Muhammad says. “We’ve invested in their lives.”

The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project is a program of the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. Their current cohort of local dance companies includes Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center & Hiplet Ballerinas, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, the Era Footwork Collective, Forward Momentum Chicago, Joel Hall Dancers & Center, M.A.D.D. Rhythms, Move Me Soul, Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago, NAJWA Dance Corps, and Praize Productions Inc. For more about CBDLP, visit chicagoblackdancelegacy.org, and chicagoreader.com/special/ logan-center-for-the-arts-at-the-university-of-chicago.