About Danceforce

Dance1172dpi_3Bolingbrook Park District Danceforce is the park district’s award-winning, nationally acclaimed performing dance company represented by the Kidz Company (1st-3rd grade), Junior Company (4th-5th grade), Teen Company (6th-8th grade) and Senior Company (9th grade and older). Each Danceforce season begins in the summer with an intensive training program and concludes at the end of May with placement auditions for a new season. Only at this time can new participants enter in to the program. The company studies and performs all styles of dance, training at multiple levels.

The mission of Danceforce is to empower youth through dance performance and leadership opportunities and to engage them in activities and experiences that will encourage the development of strong character, proactive involvement with their community and effective leadership skills. Equally important to Danceforce is the development of the individuals in all areas of dance, which include jazz, hip hop, ballet, lyrical and tap, and participation in conventions, competitions, educational field trips and performance opportunities. It is the intention of Danceforce to groom its participants to become exemplary individuals that will stand out in their schools and communities for the endeavors they are involved with and for the caliber of professionalism they exemplify in performance.

Volunteer and charity work have always been an important part of the Danceforce program. Dancers visit nursing homes, senior centers, children’s hospitals and homeless shelters as a regular part of their season. Additionally, at the start of each season, the company forms “character crews” based upon their age and school, and study the six pillars of character from Character Counts! as a summer intensive each year, participating in activities, exercises, and outreach work that strengthens and reinforces character and values. In doing so, they learn about people, life and their responsibility to do everything they can in this lifetime to make this world a better place. This has made an incredible impact on their performances and the responsibility they feel toward their community and their world.

Bolingbrook Park District Danceforce program is partially supported by an Illinois Arts Council grant. This is a year-long program that begins every summer, so unfortunately, new students may not enroll for any session of Danceforce or Jamm Team unless they are an existing member of the company.

Recent Achievements
Individual Achievements

  • Urban_jamm_190_4 Joe Fields, Sr. Jamm Team dancer and Danceforce member since 2000 was selected out of 3500 dancers across the nation as the Urban Jamm well-rounded dancer of the year. This title carried with it a trip to Los Angeles for a professional photo shoot, meetings with talent agents, scholarship classes at LA’s premiere dance studios and the honor of being the “Face of Urban Jamm” for the 2007 season. Joe’s future as a professional dancer/choreographer is just beginning.
  • Stacey Archer-Little, Danceforce Director, was honored for her choreography in the Dance Chicago Festival 2006 with the Dance Chicago 2006 (New Voice) Choreography Award.
  • Katrina Amante, Jaimie Castonguay and Sandy Perez each received the 2006 Danceforce Award of Excellence, honoring dancers who exemplify the highest standards of character, effort and hard work. This award is a full scholarship for the 2006-2007 season.
  • The amazing Danceforce Parent Association, the parent-based volunteer unit comprised of 12 separate committees and over 60 actively involved parents, was honored with the 2006 Character Counts! Award, which was presented to a business or organization which exemplified the highest standards of character.

Highlights of Accomplishments in Dance & Programming

  • Outstanding Program Award, Illinois Parks & Recreation Association – 2004
  • Highest scores and 1st, 2nd Places in competition– Urban Jamm, 2002–2007, Chicago Dance Connection 2006
  • Selected entertainment for Dance Chicago Festivals 2005 & 2006
  • Performance with Project 8 Dance Stomp Shake with rap artist Chingy
  • Halftime performances for the WNBA Chicago Sky 2006 and upcoming 2007 season


Highlights of Accomplishments in Charity Work and Volunteerism

  • $6000 contribution from their 2005 concert proceeds to Free the Children’s efforts to rebuild the schools and villages destroyed by the Tsunami in Sri Lanka.
  • $1000 contribution from their 2006 concert proceeds to Mississippi Park & Recreation Associations to support their efforts to rebuild the parks and recreation centers destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The dancers continued to send their love by shipping 135 Christmas gifts to the children in Mississippi and Louisiana just this past December.
  • Project Thanksgiving has provided over 80 less fortunate Bolingbrook families with a complete Thanksgiving dinner over the past five years.
  • Adopt a Soldier – For the past two years, Danceforce has sent their love and encouragement to our soldiers overseas with gifts, toiletries, letters, candy and their most impressive gift of all, 473 cooling scarves, made by the dancers and parents and sent to our soldiers in Iraq to comfort them in the searing temperatures of summer 2006.
  • Power Dance Project – this outreach program reaches nearly every school in the Bolingbrook community and continues to grow but would not be possible without the volunteerism of dozens of dancers who assist in teaching these children dance and character education. Many dancers who started in Power Dance are now teachers for the program.