Red Clay Dance Premiere "Art of Resilience 2.0" May 16–18 DuSable Museum Roundhouse

RED CLAY DANCE PERFORMS WORLD PREMIERE

ART OF RESILIENCE 2.0

MAY 16–18 AT DUSABLE MUSEUM ROUNDHOUSE

Red Clay Dance Company (RCDC), which creates and performs a diverse repertoire of Afro-contemporary dance, continues its 10th anniversary season with the world premiere of Art of Resilience 2.0 by Founder and Artistic Director Vershawn Sanders-Ward. Performances are May 16–18, 2019 at 7:30 p.m., co-presented by the DuSable Museum of African American History at DuSable Museum Roundhouse, 740 W. 56th Place, Chicago. Following the Saturday, May 18 performance, RCDC hosts its annual Paint the Town Red fundraiser party.

Art of Resilience 2.0 is a site-specific, mixed-media, immersive activation of the DuSable Museum Roundhouse and a re-imagining of the company's 2018 work Art of Resilience. Using movement, text, vibrant projects, and soundscapes mixed by DJ Sadie Woods, the “Urban Griots” of Red Clay Dance guide the audience through a journey of Chicago's Black Belt, the “Stroll,” and the Black Arts Movement while disquieting the impact of redlining, restrictive housing covenants, and state violence on black life. Viewers will experience the ancestral practice of occupying and reclaiming space as an act of resilience and an expression of humanity.

Visionary architect Daniel Burnham built the DuSable Museum Roundhouse in the early 19th century. This performance will feature RCDC's new sprung wood floors, built and installed by the Sweet Water Foundation in partnership with 2018 Joyce Award winner Onye Ozuzu's Project Tool and Links Hall. The floors will be housed at RCDC's home at Fuller Park for subsequent use by the dance community.

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded a $10,000 grant to RCDC to support the creation and presentation of Art of Resilience 2.0.

For Tickets and more information, visit

redclaydance.com

Concluding the 10th anniversary  season is RCDC’s “Dance4Peace  Youth Concert & Community  Hug Awards” June 1 at 5  p.m. at Benito Juarez  Community Academy, 1450 W.  Cermak Rd.   Red Clay Dance Company  performs the world premiere  of Art of Resilience 2.0 Thursday–Saturday, May 16– 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the DuSable Museum  Roundhouse, 740 W. 56th Pl.,  Chicago. Performance tickets are $30,  $24 for seniors and students;  admission to the May 18  performance and post-show Paint the Town  Red fundraiser is $100. All programming is subject  to change.      Red Clay Dance Company Red Clay Dance Company  lives to awaken “glocal”  change through creating,  performing, and teaching  dances of the African  Diaspora—change that  transforms cultural  and socioeconomic  inequities in our local and  global community.  Founder Vershawn Sanders- Ward conceived the idea of  RCDC while on her first trip  to Senegal, West Africa,  when she became  fascinated by the  interconnectedness of  dance and everyday life.  The name Red Clay comes  from her childhood memories  of playing in red earth  during her summers in Mobile,  Alabama.   RCDC’s 10th anniversary  season is supported  by the Chicago Community  Trust, the Field Foundation,  the MacArthur Fund for Arts  and Culture at the  Richard H Driehaus  Foundation, the Gaylord  and Dorothy Donnelley  Foundation, the  Springboard Foundation,  the Polk Bros. Foundation,  the Illinois Arts Council  Agency, and the Chicago  Department of Cultural   Affairs and Special  Events. Corporate  Sponsors include PNC  Bank, The Silver  Room, EAmbrose  Photography, and A  Social Life. The 10th Anniversary  Season Host Committee  includes Ebony Ambrose,  Jessica Bell, Amy Clark*,  Leslie Guy, Catrina  Franklin*, Tam Herbert*,  Jada Russell, Brea  Sanders, Marilyn A.  Sanders, and Ira  Staples (* denotes RCDC  board member).

Photos of Art of Resilience by Raymond Jerome.