Dance for Life Announces Leadership Change

Dance for Life Chicago, which mobilizes Chicago's dance community by raising funds to support dance professionals facing critical health issues, announces that Executive Director Phil Reynolds is resigning from his position, effective May 31, 2019.

"Working for the past two years with Chicago Dancers United's board and volunteers on Dance for Life and the Dancers' Fund has been an immensely satisfying way to cap more than 20 years in Chicago's dance field," said Reynolds. "Now, for personal and professional reasons, it is time to move on. My wife, Heather Hartley, executive director of See Chicago Dance through May 10, 2019, and I are relocating to the Asheville, North Carolina vicinity, where we will develop our nonprofit organization, Trillium Arts, to strengthen communities in western North Carolina with cultural, educational and economic development initiatives."

"During the past two and a half years, Dance for Life has experienced terrific growth under Phil's leadership," said CDU Board President Robert Neubert, "including record-breaking attendance at the August 2018 Dance for Life event, increased individual patronage, new institutional funding and the development of expanded programs for young dancers who represent the next generation of artists and philanthropists."

The DFL board of directors is assembling a search committee and determining its next steps for hiring a new executive director.

Dance for Life 2019 takes place Saturday, August 17 at the Auditorium Theatre, featuring the Partner Dance Companies that perform each year-Giordano Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicagoand The Joffrey Ballet-joined this year by Chicago Dance Crash, Chicago Human Rhythm Project andEnsemble Español Spanish Dance Theater. The concert features a work in tribute to late dancer, choreographer and instructor Claire Bataille, choreographed by Robyn Mineko Williams, and concludes with a finale choreographed by Randy Duncan. Tickets go on sale May 1. More information is available atchicagodancersunited.org.

Dance for Life supports organizations and dance professionals facing critical health issues. Proceeds from Dance for Life benefit the Dancers' Fund, which was established in response to the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the dance community, and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. The Dancers' Fund now offers assistance in, but is not limited to, health matters, housing, utilities, insurance, medication and travel. As a unifier of Chicago's dance community, Dance for Life supports a thriving dance community by focusing on its health and well-being through The Dancers' Fund.

For more information about Dance for Life, visit chicagodancersunited.org.