What Are the Best Dance Companies in Chicago?
Chicago is home to one of the most vibrant dance communities in the United States. From internationally recognized ballet institutions to contemporary, jazz, and repertory companies with deep local roots, the city offers a wide range of dance experiences for audiences, students, and artists alike.
While not every major Chicago dance company is a ballet company in the strictest sense, many have shaped the city’s ballet and concert dance ecosystem through classical training, theatrical storytelling, innovation, and repertory work. If you are looking for ballet in Chicago, or simply want to understand the companies defining the city’s dance landscape, these organizations are a strong place to begin.
The Joffrey Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet is one of Chicago’s most internationally recognized dance institutions. Founded in 1956 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, the company became known for expanding what American ballet could be, combining classical technique with bold contemporary ideas, theatricality, and new commissions. The company took up permanent residence in Chicago in 1995, helping solidify the city as a major center for American ballet.
Today, Joffrey performs large-scale productions, classical masterworks, and contemporary ballets, including major story ballets and new creations. Its presence in Chicago has helped establish ballet as a central part of the city’s cultural identity, giving local audiences access to a company with national and international reach.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is not a ballet company, but it is essential to any conversation about professional dance in Chicago. Founded in 1977 by Lou Conte, the company grew out of the Lou Conte Dance Studio at LaSalle and Hubbard Streets. Its earliest performances featured a small ensemble of four dancers performing in senior centers across Chicago.
From those community-based beginnings, Hubbard Street became one of the most influential contemporary dance companies in the country. Its work often draws on the strength, clarity, and discipline associated with ballet while pushing into contemporary movement, theatricality, and international repertory. For Chicago audiences, Hubbard Street helped define what a world-class contemporary dance company could look like outside New York.
Giordano Dance Chicago
Giordano Dance Chicago brings another crucial part of the city’s dance history into view: American jazz dance. The company began in 1963 as Dance Incorporated Chicago and became the Giordano Dance Company in 1966. Founded by Gus Giordano, it played a major role in elevating jazz dance as a serious concert form.
Giordano’s history is significant not only in Chicago, but internationally. In 1968, the company performed for the touring Bolshoi Ballet, which led to an invitation to perform in the Soviet Union. In 1974, Giordano became the first jazz dance company to tour there, an extraordinary milestone for American jazz dance during the Cold War era.
Today, Giordano Dance Chicago continues to preserve and advance the jazz dance tradition through athletic, musical, and highly theatrical performances. Its presence alongside ballet and contemporary companies gives Chicago one of the most stylistically diverse dance communities in the country.
Ballet 5:8
Founded in 2012 by Julianna Rubio Slager and Amy Kozol, Ballet 5:8 has become one of Chicago’s leading creators of original narrative ballet. Based in the South Suburbs and performing throughout Chicago, the region, and beyond, Ballet 5:8 is known for story-driven productions inspired by literature, faith, culture, history, and the human experience.
Ballet 5:8 occupies a unique place in Chicago’s dance landscape. The company is Latina-led and committed to creating professional ballet that reflects the complexity of today’s world. Rather than relying primarily on inherited classics, Ballet 5:8 has built its identity through new work, developing a repertoire of original ballets that invite audiences into conversation.
The company is also a Resident Company at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance and has received support for major public humanities and community engagement projects, including NEA Big Read support through Arts Midwest for The House on Mango Street and National Endowment for the Humanities support for The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe.
Recent and upcoming Ballet 5:8 works include:
The House on Mango Street, inspired by Sandra Cisneros’ landmark Chicago novel
La Llorona, a reimagining of the Mexican legend through themes of grief, motherhood, and healing
The Curious Life of Edgar Allan Poe, a new ballet exploring Poe’s life, imagination, and moral world
For audiences looking for ballet that is emotionally direct, intellectually engaged, and rooted in contemporary questions, Ballet 5:8 offers one of the most distinctive voices in Chicago.
South Chicago Dance Theatre
South Chicago Dance Theatre is one of the city’s most important newer companies, blending classical, contemporary, modern, and cultural influences within a repertory model. Founded by Kia S. Smith in 2017, the company has grown quickly from a local project into a nationally and internationally recognized ensemble.
What makes South Chicago Dance Theatre especially important is its connection to the South Side and its commitment to representation, education, and community engagement. The company has commissioned work from a wide range of choreographers, developed signature programs, and expanded its reach through touring, school programs, and community-based initiatives.
For audiences interested in the future of Chicago dance, South Chicago Dance Theatre offers a compelling example of how a company can be rooted in place while engaging national and global conversations.
Why Chicago’s Ballet and Dance Community Matters
Chicago’s dance community matters because it is not built around one aesthetic, one institution, or one neighborhood. It includes major ballet institutions, contemporary companies, jazz dance pioneers, South Side cultural leaders, independent repertory companies, and mission-driven organizations creating new work from the ground up.
Together, these companies show the range of what dance in Chicago can be. The Joffrey brings international ballet visibility. Hubbard Street has helped define contemporary dance in the city. Giordano preserves and advances American jazz dance. South Chicago Dance Theatre expands the field through community-rooted repertory and representation. Chicago Repertory Ballet challenges inherited assumptions about ballet. Ballet 5:8 contributes a growing body of original narrative ballet shaped by literature, faith, culture, and human experience.
Whether you are attending your first ballet or you are a lifelong dance enthusiast, Chicago offers a remarkable range of performances. Its dance companies do more than entertain. They preserve history, build community, train artists, and create new stories for the stage.
Interested in seeing Ballet 5:8 perform? Explore upcoming performances, original repertoire, touring programs, and educational opportunities at Ballet58.org.