Youth arts summit to benefit Gigi’s Playhouse in Hofman

Dancers from Barrington’s Midwest Dance Collective, under the direction of Ellen Werksman in collaboration with Inaside Chicago Dance, present The Youth Summit For The Arts — bringing youth artists together for a cause.

The performance is at 5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, in the Richard Johnson Auditorium at Barrington High School, 616 W. Main St., Barrington. Tickets are $15; $10 for students and seniors. Call (773) 960-4909 or visit brownpapertickets.com.

This year’s summit is a BHS Fine Arts sponsored event and features singers, actors and dancers from more than 15 area arts organizations representing Palatine, Barrington, Chicago, Mount Prospect, Mundelein, Schaumburg, Rockford, Elgin, Bartlett and more.

The performance will benefit Gigi’s Playhouse, the Down syndrome awareness center.

Bringing artists together in a united spirit is the foundation of the Youth Summit and the founding philosophy of Midwest Dance Collective, making this an easy and natural fit for Ellen Werksman and the dancers of MDC and Inaside to collaborate in sponsoring this event.

“Ms. Werksman and Inaside have had a long-standing relationship and this is just the next step to expanding the work we do together,” said Richard Smith, director of Inaside Chicago Dance.

“This is the first Youth Summit in the Barrington area. We are very proud to be a part of supporting this event and helping Inaside in continuing to do their good work in all the communities they touch,” said Ellen Werksman, whose company, Midwest Dance Collective performs annually at this event. “This will certainly be an amazing and diverse evening of entertainment.”

Nancy Gianni, the Hoffman Estates founder of Gigi’s Playhouse, said bringing area artists together and allowing them to see their different talents while supporting each other, “matches our philosophy of embracing differences and allowing people to just ‘be’ … after all, we’re all in this together.”