DANCE CHICAGO

Simantikos Dance Chicago (SDC) is committed to leadership and creative collaboration in both
dance performance and dance education. The company aspires to advance the performing arts
by offering the public visionary choreography and strongly executed performances by fostering
an intelligent appreciation of dance as an art form. The studio aims to offer a space where
students gain social-emotional learning and a sense of agency and self-discipline through
dance.

Simantikos Dance Chicago started as a professional dance company in December of 2015 and
has since been featured in concerts, festivals, and collaborations throughout the U.S, Canada, and Italy since then. In 2017, the company's artistic director, Haley McElwee, decided to further pursue her passion for teaching social-emotional learning through dance by building out
Simantikos Dance Studio, now located at 1729 S. Halsted.

 

Simantikos believes that dance education should be accessible, affordable, and can further develop children in ways outside of technique. At Simantikos, our students gain confidence, self-awareness, spatial awareness, strength, flexibility, and are given an opportunity to foster and grow in their creativity. Through classes, we watch our students further develop a sense of self-discipline that we know will aid them academically, physically, and emotionally. We push self-control, integrity, commitment, teamwork, and kindness and are consistently so proud of the way our students are growing these values. Since the creation of the studio, Simantikos Dance Chicago has partnered with Kidz Creative Corner, Twinkling Stars Preschool, Lakeview Preschool Academy, Jahn School of Fine Arts, NKO University of Chicago Charter School, and Galileo Scholastic Academy.