Links Hall, Chicago’s premier incubator/presenter of new dance and performance, has announced a new cohort of Co-MISSION Resident and Fellowship Artists who will be developing new performance at Links’ incubator studio during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons. Among them are Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago alums Destine Young ’13 and Erin Kilmurray ’08, both graduates of the Dance Center’s BA Program in Dance, and former Columbia College Dance Center student Keisha Janae.

Janae and her company Eternal Resolve are 2021-2022 Season Resident Artists; Young and her Ground Rhythm Dance Project are 2022-2023 Season Resident Artists; and Kilmurray is a 2022-2023 Season Fellowship Artist.

Also included among the Co-MISSION recipients is Nejla Yatkin, a Links Hall 2021-2022 Season Fellowship Artist, who was a guest artist in the Dance Center of Columbia College’s 2020-2021 Dance Presenting Series directed by Dance Center faculty member Ellen Chenoweth, who is also a Links Hall board member.

Columbia College alum alum Aaliyah Christina ’16, a graduate of the Dance Center’s Dance BA program, is Links Hall’s Artist Programs Manager and Associate Curator. “This year, Links Hall received over 50 applications from performance artists all over Chicago,” says Christina. “We engaged in truly one of the most robust discussions and hardest deliberation processes some of us had ever had. Each application was so clear and passionate. We could tell folks were READY to put the pandemic fog to bed and start making. I’m so excited to welcome TWO cohorts for the next TWO Co-MISSION seasons.”

Links Hall’s Co-MISSION Residencies and Fellowships incorporate a flexible range of resources designed to meet the needs of artistic experimentation at different points in an artist’s career and different points in a project’s development. Links provides selected artists with studio time, financial awards, formal coaching, production support throughout the residency period, opportunities to share works-in-progress, and paid performances at the annual Festival of New Works. Artists also participate in the “Art of Rehearsal” mentorship program.