Tuesday, March 26, 2019

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



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.

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