Joel Hall Dancers & Center

Joel Hall Dancers & Center’s mission has always been to awaken the dancer in EVERYONE’s soul, while also presenting programming and performances that showcase and celebrate the artistry of Chicago’s Black and LGBTQAI+ performers. 

Founded in 1974, Joel Hall Dancers & Center (JHDC) stands as the embodiment of Joel Hall’s life-long passion for creating, performing and teaching dance rooted in BIPOC culture. He and the company create work that honors the experiences of Black Americans while honing educational practices that reflect the needs of Chicago’s minority communities. We believe that being both Black and gay is REVOLUTIONARY and we proudly represent and support BIPOC & LGBTQ+ youth and adults. For 47 years, JHDC has organized, supported, and provided opportunities to Chicago’s marginalized communities, proving that if we work together, these communities can make lasting, meaningful change in society through the arts. 

Joel Hall Dancers & Center has been defiantly and unapologetically diverse, accessible, and inclusive for 47 years. It lives at the leading edge of the anti-racism, LGBTQAI+ Pride and DEAI movements, dismantling oppressive systems, amplifying oppressed voices, increasing access, and cultivating a better world. This is the ethos we will amplify in our next chapter. 

We will do this most profoundly by opening THE HALL, JHDC’s new 7,800 sqft facility in Albany Park, with three state-of-the-art dance studios and a black-box performance space. THE HALL will be a safe place of creation for dancers of all genres, abilities, ages, and identities to share their stories, amplify their voices, and enrich their artistry. We will share these invaluable resources with the people & organizations around us, while also playing an active role in our community’s artistic ecosystem, offering performances, galleries, opportunities for collaboration and networking, a local farmers market, a dance library, concerts, & more! The impact THE HALL will have on Chicago’s BIPOC and LGBTQAI+ communities cannot be understated.

To preserve the legacy of Joel Hall’s artistry, Joel Hall Dancers & Center is also working to codify Joel’s technique through a teaching and training curriculum that will be the standard by which all Joel Hall students and dancers are trained. Scholarships to train in this curriculum are already available for Black gay youth and we hope to expand that program. JHDC is also beginning archival work with the National Museum of African American History & Culture, International Association of Blacks in Dance, Black Metropolis Research Consortium, and Newberry Library. This work will ensure that Joel’s cultural contribution to Chicago continues long after he is gone.

Support Joel Hall Dancers & Center in carrying on the LEGACY of Joel Hall by giving a gift today!