Wills Glasspiegel

Wills Glasspiegel (born November 23, 1982) is an American filmmaker,^[1] artist,^[2] scholar^[3] and community organizer from Chicago.^[4] Dr. Glasspiegel has spent several years working alongside electronic musicians and dancers from Sierra Leone (bubu music), South Africa (Shangaan electro) and Chicago (Footwork (genre)). In 2017, he co-founded the arts and racial justice nonprofit, Open the Circle.^[5] He has produced public radio segments for All Things Considered^[6] and Morning Edition, and was recognized as a co-recipient of a Peabody Award in 2014^[7] for his contributions to the public radio program Afropop Worldwide. Wills' collaborations have been featured in a variety of publications including CNN,^[8] FADER Magazine,^[9] Dazed Magazine,^[10] Pitchfork,^[11] New York Times,^[12] Wall Street Journal,^[13] The Guardian,^[14] and Chicago Tribune. He worked from 2016-2023 as an artist and filmmaker with The Era Footwork Crew,^[15] including as creative director for The Era's touring performance,IN THE WURKZ, a show that won the National Dance Project award in 2019 from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Glasspiegel's work has been recognized with prizes from the MacArthur Foundation, the Field Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the City of Chicago. His films and installations have screened at Stony Island Arts Bank,^[16] the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago,^[17] the Walker Art Center,^[18] Minneapolis Institute of Arts,^[19] MANA Contemporary,^[20] Shibuya crossing in Japan (Neo Shibuya^[21]), and several times with Art on the Mart in Chicago.^[22]

Footnotes, a projection directed by Glasspiegel, opening at Art on theMART in 2021

Public work

Film

Year	Title	Credited as
		Director	Editor	Cinematographer	Producer
2011	Kenya ftr. Solange and Chris Taylor[23]			Y	Y
2013	Making Tracks: Chicago Footwork[24]	Y	Y	Y	Y
2014	Icy Lake[25]	Y	Y	Y
	Vogue Knights[26]	Y	Y	Y
2015	Bang'n on King Drive[27]	Y	Y	Y
	Rural Roots: From Giyani to New York[28]				Y
	Urban Beats: Atteridgeville to Brooklyn[29]				Y
2016	Dance to the Bubu[30]	Y	Y	Y
	Meet the Era[31]	Y	Y	Y
	Freetown Masks[32]	Y	Y	Y
2017	Sabanoh[33]	Y	Y	Y
2018	I Am the Queen[34]	Y	Y	Y
2020	Eschecagou[35]	Y	Y	Y
2021	Footnotes[36]	Y	Y	Y

Radio

Year	Title
2011	Midwest Electric: The Story of Chicago House and Detroit Techno[37]
	Sierra Leone: Celebration, War and Healing[38]
2012	Nollywood: Nigeria's Mirror[39]
2014	Proving the Bubu Myth: Janka Nabay, War and Witchcraft in Sierra Leone[40]

Publications

Year	Title
2014	Footwork: 10 Essential Tracks (Pitchfork)[41]
2018	My Friendship with Ahmed Janka Nabay, Genius of Bubu (NPR Music)[42]
2020	Kicking a Leg[43]
2021	"Dancing the Wall of Respect" (in Fleeting Monuments to the Wall of Respect, edited by Romi Crawford)[44]
2022	Each One, Teach One: Footwork in Minnesota[45]
2022	Darlene Blackburn, Dancer of Time[46]

References

1. "Wills Glasspiegel IMDb profile". IMDb. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
2. "Chicago Footwork at Columbia College's Hokin Gallery Closing Soon". Chicago Artist Resource. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
3. "William Glasspiegel". Yale University. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
4. "Open the Circle homepage". Retrieved May 4, 2018.
5. "Open the Circle". Open the Circle. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
6. "Footwork: Chicago Dance Music With A Need For Speed". NPR Music. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
7. "Institutional Award: Afropop Worldwide". Peabody Award. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
8. "Soweto's ultra-fast dance music: Can you take the pace?". CNN. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
9. "Behind The Scenes of Chicago's Footwork Renaissance". The Fader. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
10. "The Chicago footwork dancers at the dawn of a new era". Dazed. 24 August 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
11. "Footwork:10 Essential Tracks". Pitchfork. 26 June 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
12. Pareles, Jon (3 April 2018). "Janka Nabay, 54, Dies; Carried an African Dance Music Worldwide". New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
13. Beta, Andy (28 August 2012). "African star has an American revival". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
14. Arnold, Jacob (30 June 2015). "Fancy Footwork: How Chicago's juke scene found its feet again". The Guardian. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
15. "The Era is taking steps to preserve the history of Chicago footwork culture". Chicago Tribune. 27 August 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
16. "The Era Footwork Crew - IN THE WURKZ at the Stony Island Arts Bank". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
17. "MCA - Prime Time: F00TW3RK | Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago". Retrieved 2023-09-21.
18. "Walker Art Center Presents: The Era Footwork Crew: In the Wurkz". Retrieved 2023-09-21.
19. "This Documentary Shows Sierra Leone's Deep Debul Parade Tradition - Okayplayer". Retrieved 2023-09-21.
20. "Mana Contemporary Body + Camera Festival". Retrieved 2023-09-21.
21. "Instagram". Retrieved 2023-09-21.
22. Seibert, Brian (30 June 2021). "'It Taunts the Eye': Footwork's Fast Moves Loom over Chicago". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
23. "Official video for "Kenya"". YouTube. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
24. "Making Tracks: Chicago Footwork". Vice Media. 28 December 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
25. "Watch "Icy Lake" An Investigation Into One of Nightlife's Notorious Dance Tracks". Vice Media. 6 May 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
26. "A Look Inside NYC's Vogue Knights, Presented by Qween Beat". Vice Media. 30 May 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
27. "Bang'n on King Drive: Footworking the Bud Billiken Parade with RP Boo, K-Phi-9, and The Era". Vice Media. 22 September 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
28. "Rural Roots: From Giyani to New York". South African Broadcasting Corporation. 3 November 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
29. "Urban Beats: Atteridgeville to Brooklyn". South African Broadcasting Corporation. 14 March 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
30. "Dance to the Bubu". Vimeo. 9 May 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
31. "Meet the Era". Vice. 20 November 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
32. "Freetown Masks". OkayAfrica. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
33. "Sabanoh". Nowness. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
34. "God bless the women of Chicago footwork". The Fader. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
35. "Eschecagou". Open the Circle. 12 October 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
36. "Footnotes". Art on theMART. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
37. "Midwest Electric: The Story of Chicago House and Detroit Techno". Afropop Worldwide. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
38. "Sierra Leone: Celebration, War and Healing". Afropop Worldwide. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
39. "Nollywood: Nigeria's Mirror". Afropop Worldwide. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
40. "Proving the Bubu Myth: Janka Nabay, War and Witchcraft in Sierra Leone". Afropop Worldwide. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
41. "Footwork: 10 Essential Tracks". Pitchfork. 26 June 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
42. "My Friendship with Janka Nabay, Genius of Bubu". NPR Music. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
43. Glasspiegel, Wills (2019). "Kicking a Leg". Portable Gray. 2 (2). University of Chicago: 298–302. doi:10.1086/707157. S2CID 213666934. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
44. "Dancing the Wall of Respect". University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
45. Glasspiegel, Wills (2022). "Each One, Teach One". MNArtists. Walker Art Center. doi:10.1086/707157. S2CID 213666934. Retrieved Sep 21, 2023.
46. Glasspiegel, Wills (2022). "EDarlene Blackburn". Sixty Inches from Center. Sixty Inches from Center. doi:10.1086/707157. S2CID 213666934. Retrieved Sep 21, 2023.