LAB ARTIST 2020

ELEVATE CHICAGO DANCE 2017

Sterling Lofton aka Steelo’s art is Chicago footwork, a battle dance and music with roots in 1980s Chicago. After more than a decade dancing, winning battles and prizes locally and internationally, he’s proud to be called “a footworker’s footworker.” Lofton has performed on stages across the world with The Era Footwork Crew, a collective he cofounded on the south side of Chicago in 2014. Beyond performance, he also channels his artistry into dance education and fashion design. After learning to sew, he started “Stitched by Steelo,” a clothing line inspired by the crossroads of fashion and dance.

During his Lab year, Lofton is developing “Sterling Publishing Company (SPC),” a new performance at the intersections of fashion and dance across Black history. The work invites audiences to gather around the runway, embedding the architecture of a fashion show into a dance performance. Drawing on historical research, SPC finds inspiration from archives housed at Stony Island Arts Bank, including those of the Johnson Publishing Company, whose name inspires the project title.