We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Frances Whitford. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Frances below.

Frances, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on was developing a cultural exchange program between Chicago-based Little Fire Artist Collective members and dancers in San Jose, Costa Rica. A dear friend who I danced with while at the Hubbard Street Professional Program, Jose Ventura, invited us for a residency in his hometown, and we spent a year developing the program together. Over the 2 weeks we spent in Costa Rica, Little Fire members taught daily warm-up classes, facilitated a creation process with local professionals, and led an intensive for dancers over the age of 13. At the end of the two weeks, we had a show for the public to share what we’d worked on. After the show, we had a Q&A with the audience. Their feedback about what we created was informative and inspiring. I knew the experience was going to be magical, but it far surpassed my expectations. Getting to know each of the dancers and having the space and time to exchange ideas about movement and the world was my favorite part. This program wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of Melania Fernandez and Jose Pablo. I’m thrilled that this project will continue, since our 2-week visit felt like just the beginning of an exciting relationship. In the fall of 2024, we are planning for a group of Costa Rican dancers to come to Chicago to experience the dance community here.

Frances, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Frances Whitford, and I’m a professional dancer. At Little Fire Artist Collective, I’m a member and the manager. I began taking dance classes at the YMCA when I was 4 years old and haven’t stopped. I attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts before moving to Chicago in 2017 to continue my dance training under the direction of Alexandra Wells at the Hubbard Street Professional Program (HS Pro). At HS Pro, we were encouraged to forge our own paths and create the opportunities we wanted for ourselves. HS Pro ended when the pandemic hit, and that’s when Little Fire Artist Collective was born. Savannah Dunn and Aja Alabastro, two of my friends and colleagues at HS Pro, had been choreographing dances together under the name Little Fire. In March 2020, the two of them, along with myself and a handful of other HS Pro alums, formed Little Fire Artist Collective. The reason to create the collective was to share resources and keep each other inspired during an incredibly difficult and unpredictable time. Little Fire Artist Collective seeks to fill a void for early- to mid-career artists by acting as an incubator for voices and ideas that would otherwise be unseen or unheard. We aim to cultivate community events that bring both contemporary dance and multidisciplinary artistic creation into a more inclusive, democratic, and community-driven space.

I am most proud of the way we function as a collective. Each member also has an administrative role, and they are all equally important. Though I have the title of “manager,” I do not make decisions for the collective on my own. It’s empowering to create opportunities for ourselves and for others as a group while not relying on a single leader. So far, we’ve had a digital season featuring dance films, multiple outdoor performance engagements, two weekends of live performances in Chicago sharing the work of 11 creation processes, a cultural exchange program in Costa Rica, and a residency in collaboration with the Margie Gillis Dance Foundation in Quebec. We also host monthly improvisation jams at different locations throughout Chicago that are free to participants and open to all local artists. You can see us at Fulton Street Collective on January 26th and 27th for our next evenings of dance. I’m very excited about our upcoming creation processes because we will be collaborating with five artists we haven’t worked with before.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Growing up at classical ballet studios, I’ve had to unlearn many things. Mainly, I’ve had to unlearn conformity. I thought I had to look a certain way and dance for an established company to validate my professionalism. There is no “right” way to have a dance career, and being a freelancer does not mean you’ve failed. Ballet is, in some ways, a cult. Once you’re in, it’s hard to see other opportunities in life. I was told that the only way to be a professional dancer was to give 110% of myself to ballet training. As I’ve grown into my adult self, I’ve learned the importance of having a well-balanced life. I still love the art of ballet and take classes weekly, mostly because I find the flow of it very meditative. I’ve had to unlearn that “ballet is the foundation of all dance.” That statement is not true, and ballet is a small fraction of what the dance world has to offer. Ultimately, all of my experiences in life inform my dancing, and vice versa.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Show up for your local artists. Go to their performances, galleries, workshops—whatever they’re offering. Buy their merch, donate to fundraisers, and share their social media content. A little goes a long way. Artists need every bit of support they can get.

Contact Info:

• Website: littlefirelittlefire.org
• Instagram: @littlefirelittlefire
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTekdzmJITy9YlTipMurI9A
• Other: https://www.gofundme.com/f/little-fire-2023-season

Image Credits
Andrew Weeks, Jose Pablo, Ren Picco-Freeman