When:
Friday, March 13, 2026
7:30 PM - 8:45 PM CT
Where: Wirtz Center: Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Cost: General Public $25
Senior Citizens $22
NU Faculty Staff $20
Full-Time Students $12
Full-Time NU Students $8 in advance, $12 at the door
A per ticket service charge will be added to all online ($3 per ticket) and phone ($2 per ticket) purchases.
Contact:
Wirtz Center
(847) 491-7282
wirtz@northwestern.edu
Group: Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts
Category: Fine Arts
Description:
Artistic Director Melissa Blanco Borelli
As we mark the 250th birthday of the United States, what do we have to celebrate? The ghosts of our nation's past—slavery, genocide, extraction—are active forces haunting our burning present.
Danceworks 2026 gathers choreographers, dancers, and audiences to ask: What does it mean to move together in a time of unraveling? How do we move through a world where some bodies are deemed disposable, where borders harden as seas rise, where the very ground beneath us is contested?
In this space, we don’t promise harmony. We offer the friction of real encounter. Through choreography and improvisation, we explore the politics of presence: the radical act of showing up, in all our differences, when everything tells us to retreat. Can collective movement—breathing, sweating, grieving in rhythm—forge something beyond mere survival?
When:
Saturday, March 14, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM CT
Where: Wirtz Center: Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Cost: General Public $25
Senior Citizens $22
NU Faculty Staff $20
Full-Time Students $12
Full-Time NU Students $8 in advance, $12 at the door
A per ticket service charge will be added to all online ($3 per ticket) and phone ($2 per ticket) purchases.
Contact:
Wirtz Center
(847) 491-7282
wirtz@northwestern.edu
Group: Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts
Category: Fine Arts
Description:
Artistic Director Melissa Blanco Borelli
As we mark the 250th birthday of the United States, what do we have to celebrate? The ghosts of our nation's past—slavery, genocide, extraction—are active forces haunting our burning present.
Danceworks 2026 gathers choreographers, dancers, and audiences to ask: What does it mean to move together in a time of unraveling? How do we move through a world where some bodies are deemed disposable, where borders harden as seas rise, where the very ground beneath us is contested?
In this space, we don’t promise harmony. We offer the friction of real encounter. Through choreography and improvisation, we explore the politics of presence: the radical act of showing up, in all our differences, when everything tells us to retreat. Can collective movement—breathing, sweating, grieving in rhythm—forge something beyond mere survival?
When:
Sunday, March 15, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM CT
Where: Wirtz Center: Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Cost: General Public $25
Senior Citizens $22
NU Faculty Staff $20
Full-Time Students $12
Full-Time NU Students $8 in advance, $12 at the door
A per ticket service charge will be added to all online ($3 per ticket) and phone ($2 per ticket) purchases.
Contact:
Wirtz Center
(847) 491-7282
wirtz@northwestern.edu
Group: Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts
Category: Fine Arts
Description:
Artistic Director Melissa Blanco Borelli
As we mark the 250th birthday of the United States, what do we have to celebrate? The ghosts of our nation's past—slavery, genocide, extraction—are active forces haunting our burning present.
Danceworks 2026 gathers choreographers, dancers, and audiences to ask: What does it mean to move together in a time of unraveling? How do we move through a world where some bodies are deemed disposable, where borders harden as seas rise, where the very ground beneath us is contested?
In this space, we don’t promise harmony. We offer the friction of real encounter. Through choreography and improvisation, we explore the politics of presence: the radical act of showing up, in all our differences, when everything tells us to retreat. Can collective movement—breathing, sweating, grieving in rhythm—forge something beyond mere survival?