Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival

Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival was founded in 2010 as a way to share and celebrate the work of practicing contemporary dance artists and companies. Producers Melissa Mallinson and Nicole Gifford have more than thirty years of combined experience in producing dance events, choreographing, and performing their works in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.

Melissa Mallinson (producer) is the director of ology dance and has been active in the Chicago dance community as a performer, choreographer and producer since 2002. She performed with Khecari Dance Theater, the Kalamazoo Ballet, Ann Arbor Dance Works, TJ&Co, Marquez Dance Project, and many independent artists throughout the Midwest, and also as a guest artist with Berlin-based Compagnie Felix Ruckert and David Dorfman Dance. Melissa is a recipient of a 2004 CAAP grant for new choreography from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Her work was presented by the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, Around the Coyote, Dance Chicago, Ohio Dance Festival, Regional Dance America, Dance Union, and the National Congress of Carillonneurs. Melissa graduated summa *** laude from the University of Michigan, and also studied at the London Contemporary Dance School and Yorkshire Ballet Seminars. For four years Melissa worked in the events department at the Old Town School of Folk Music, serving on the production staff of the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival and produced World Dance Night from 2005-2009. She currently leads Old Town School's education outreach initiatives, providing in-depth arts education programs to more than 4000 Chicago Public School students.

Nicole Gifford (producer) is the Artistic Director of Nicole Gifford Dance and has been performing, choreographing & producing dance in Chicago since 1998. A graduate of Western Illinois University, she earned her BAS in English, with minor degrees in Dance and Creative Writing. Nicole enjoys layering her choreography with poetry & live music, focusing specifically on jazz-fusion, for its improvisational element. Her work has been performed at many Chicago dance festivals including Around the Coyote, Dance Chicago, Full Circle, Rebound and Old Town School of Folk Music’s World Dance Night. Nicole has co-produced several dance concerts since 2005, sharing the stage with Chicago artists Marquez Dance Project, Jay-Son Dance Project and core project. Thanks to a Dance Bridge residency through the Chicago Cultural Center’s Department of Cultural Affairs, she was recently able to produce “MILES ELECTRIC”; an evening length work of dance performed entirely to live music from Miles Davis' Electric Period. Her work has also received support from the Illinois Arts Council. Nicole works full time teaching ballroom dance to adults at May I Have This Dance and through their youth program, Dancing with Class.

Sarah Lackner (production stage manager) is excited to return to HCCDF, where she has been the lighting designer and stage manager since it’s inception in 2010. Co-owner and founder of Stonewolf Studios, she is also the technical director for the Ruth Page Center in Chicago. She freelances around town as a lighting designer and stage manager for dance, music, and theater. Recent designs include works with Inaside Chicago Dance, Chicago Repertory Ballet, and Deeply Rooted.

Stonewolf Studios is a Chicago-based production and design company bringing stunning visuals and hi-end technology to the performing arts, with special focus on dance.