Freedom From and Freedom To is an exploration and celebration of artistic circumstance. Movement and sound improvisors from all around Chicago gather in front of a live audience, where they are grouped by chance. Each group performs an improvised set. We fuse diverse artistic backgrounds and practices to create unique and fleeting worlds.

Our events are improvisational performance environments which interrogate movement and sound. We use an ensemble of movers and sound-makers that are remarkably diverse in their crafts and backgrounds. Freedom From and Freedom To integrates relationality by engaging audience participation. The audience is invited to randomly draw a combination of artists who will perform together. Some of the participants have never engaged with each other before, which creates a challenging and often rewarding opportunity for world-making.

Founder and curator Cristal Sabbagh is a teaching interdisciplinary artist influenced by film, history, politics, Butoh and improvised sound. In her performances, her goal is to embody transformational memories, challenge power structures, and awaken viewers' senses. Cristal has found that working with live improvised music has inspired her best work, which has become vital to her practice.