Benjamin Marshall of Hiplet, who will appear in “Divination: The Dancing Souls of Black Folk”/Photo: Rachel Neville

There’s nothing like the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project (CBDLP). At least not in the United States. Kevin Iega Jeff, co-founder of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and currently interim co-director of the CBDLP, says the International Association of Blacks in Dance was a major influence in the creation of the project, which for the past five years has provided multi-year funding, documentation and marketing services, peer and mentoring opportunities, and more to a growing number of companies. But aside from that international organization, the CBDLP has nothing else like it. “I do a lot of work in Atlanta,” says Gary Abbott, who co-founded Deeply Rooted with Jeff. “And people in Atlanta pay attention.”

Chicagoans will get a taste of what makes CBDLP so unique this Saturday, when all ten companies in the current cohort present a small selection of their work at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. The program is called “Divination: The Dancing Souls of Black Folk,” and as the title suggests, will feature a wide range of genres. The free performance includes modern and contemporary African pieces from Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and Praize Productions; street dance group The Era Footwork Collective; jazz-based Joel Hall Dancers and Center; tap dance powerhouse MADD Rhythms; youth and education-focused Forward Momentum Chicago, Move Me Soul and Chicago Multicultural Dance Company (including the stunning “Hiplet” ballerinas who mix hip hop and pointe dancing); and long-standing African dance companies Muntu Dance Theater and NAJWA Dance Corps.

The program is co-curated by Jeff and Abbott, who emphasize the importance of breaking down barriers between dance styles and missions. “It’s an ecosystem,” says Jeff. “Different companies are working on different things: youth development, pre-professional development, community development. We want to create an evening where people see themselves on stage.”

“Iega leads with love, respect and curiosity,” says Abbott. “This process opened all of that up. For me, it was a kind of baptism.”

The “Divination” concert comes just before the graduation of the second CBDLP cohort, which is ending a two-year engagement with the project. Jeff and his co-interim director Mashaune Hardy — also associate director of partnerships and strategy at the Logan Center — did not speak in detail about what’s planned next for the CBDLP, though Jeff says they have goals to formalize support through workshops, technical assistance and artistic development.

As for this Saturday’s concert, Jeff and Abbott agree that the curation process was fun. “The word is fun,” Abbott says. “It requires discipline, and we find fun in discipline.”

“Divination: The Dancing Souls of Black Folk” at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, 201 East Randolph, on Saturday, August 24, at 5:45 p.m. Admission is free.