From New City Stage to WGN-9, Red Clay Dance Company has been heating up the airwaves!
Artistic Director Vershawn Sanders-Ward spoke with New City’s Sharon Hoyer about the upcoming performance of 16, celebrating 16 years of the dance company’s artivism in Chicago.
“Ten years ago, Vershawn Sanders-Ward created a piece about the pernicious nature of racial bigotry in America for her then-young company, Red Clay Dance. Now, for Red Clay’s sixteenth season, Sanders-Ward is revisiting the piece, informed by time, continued study and the perspectives of new company members. Sanders-Ward says her perspective on racism has grown more nuanced over the last decade.”
The interview goes on to delve into returning to this work, and the company’s collaboration with “revered contemporary choreographer” Bebe Miller in a new premiere made for the company. Read on…
WGN-9 Featured Red Clay Dance Company in an in-studio performance for its Midday Fix.
A preview from the company’s 16 performance, which opens Thursday April 17 and runs through April 19 at the Dance Center.
Red Clay Dance Company on ABC 7 News
ABC7 Chicago interviewed Vershawn Sanders-Ward about the upcoming program including the premiere of work by Bebe Miller, who made her Dance Center debut at its original Uptown location in 1990 as part of Present Vision/Past Voice - The African American Tradition in Modern Dance series.
Fox Channel 32 chats with Vershawn Sanders-Ward as Red Clay Dance gears up for its concert series at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.
Vershawn Sander-Ward talks about the ideas and creative process in producing 16 talking about what rehearsals are like and delving into the process in the studio.
See Chicago Dance’s Maureen Janson chats with Vershawn Sanders-Ward in an interview preview on 16.
Vershawn Sanders-Ward spoke of how meaningful it is to return to Columbia now as an alum: “‘I realize how special it was in my development as a maker. There were so many ways in which that place supported me beyond just what was happening in the studio.’ As an undergrad at Columbia, Sanders-Ward found community in the dance program’s connection to local and national professionals, including Miller. Columbia also gave her the tools to develop as a choreographer which Sanders-Ward further developed in graduate studies at NYU.
Sixteen years ago, Sanders-Ward came home to Chicago to create her own community and establish a consistent group of dancers to help bring forth her choreographic vision…Movement is only a part of the equation. Sanders-Ward sees art as a catalyst for community transformation and social justice. ‘I have great interest in social inequities and a call to action around things I see in my local community,’ she says…’art can ignite change.’”
