Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival at Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (CRDT) is proud to announce the return of the Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival, October 2 and 3, celebrating Latinx/e contemporary movement artists at the Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., with the generous support of The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. The Festival features CRDT performing a new work-in-progress by Princess Grace Awardee Omar Román de Jesús, with the work of Festival Artists Ruben Andrés Castillo Gomez; Tori Cristi; Anniela Huidobro Castro; Anise Fernández and Amanda Ramirez; Paula Sousa and Mark Travis Rivera, The Professional Storyteller. Festival artists were selected through an open call for proposals from Latinx/e creators who engage choreographically with bi-national and multi-racial identity, multi-generational experiences, immigrant narratives, identity politics and/or gender expansiveness.

Through this festival, now in its second year, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre uplifts a multiplicity of Latinx/e perspectives—creating a mosaic of stories shaped by heritage, migration, gender, queerness, resilience and joy. The Festival highlights socially conscious Latinx artists’ at various development stages, whose lines of inquiry address immigration, colonialism, multinationalism, bi-racial and/or multi-generational identities.

The 2026 Festival Pass includes concert tickets, workshop and panel discussion. Registration is general admission: $35; senior/industry: $25; non-Columbia student/child: $10 and free to Columbia College Chicago students, faculty & staff. Concert tickets are general admission, $30; senior/industry, $20; non-Columbia student/child, $10 and free to Columbia College Chicago students, faculty & staff. The Workshop registration is $10 or pay what you can and the Panel Discussion is free with registration encouraged. Tickets and registration are now on sale at Dance.Colum.edu with more information available at CerquaRivera.org.

IMAGE from Ruben Andres Castillo Gomez’s “Los Immigrantes” from the inaugural Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival (2025). Photo by Michelle Reid