JUBA: The Chicago Human Rhythm Project

Broadcast Schedule

The Chicago Rhythm Project (CHRP) builds bridges between diverse communities by celebrating tap and percussive dance through performance, teaching and documentation. Through its programs, CHRP promotes cultural diversity, emphasizing ethnic minority leadership, and fosters partnership between Chicago artists and Chicago communities.

Lane Alexander

Co-founded in 1990 by Lane Alexander and the late Kelly Michaels, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project began as a workshop at the Gus Giordano Dance Center in Evanston, Illinois, with a single performance at Northeastern Illinois University. Proceeds from the concert were given to Open Hand/Chicago, a meals-on-wheels program serving people affected by AIDS. Since then, CHRP has grown to presenting performances over two weeks of residencies, workshops and classes, plus several free performances at community-centered locations. Student attendance has grown from 50 in 1990 to 800 in 1998, and concert attendance has grown from 200 in 1990 to 6,300 in 2000.

The CHRP has served as a model for Human Rhythm Projects that have taken place annually in Minneapolis, San Antonio, Heidelberg, Germany and Holland. CHRP's priority is to create professional performance opportunities for artists, scholarships for deserving youth, free and admission-based concerts for the general public and world-class educational opportunities attended by students from all over the world, including North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Europe. The resurgence of tap and percussive dance has grown well beyond any existing organization, and CHRP is working to fill this void by establishing an institution dedicated to sustaining and fostering education, presentation, preservation and innovation in the field of American tap and percussive dance.