Red Clay Dance Performs World Premiere of ART OF RESILIENCE 2.0

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.

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.

For more information about RCDC and the 10th anniversary season, visit redclaydance.com.

Photo Credit: Raymond Jerome.

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