When it came time to select a college, Columbia College Chicago had some of the things Vershawn Sanders-Ward was looking for. The others, she had to find on her own.
“African dance was in the basement; it was one class,” she said. “When I was at a point where I had the confidence to say, ‘I really need this,’ I had to figure out a way to make it work.”
Sanders-Ward was the first person to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Columbia in 2002, a program that now centers African and Afro-contemporary forms. Committing to the BFA gave her extra time and flexibility to take classes in and outside the university that weren’t required for a modern dance degree.
“There wasn’t always a willingness to let go of the framing to make space for it all,” Sanders-Ward said. “I found it in other places.”
What Sanders-Ward got from Columbia College, and why she decided to stay, were her teachers and the Presenting Series, which hosted world-class dance in the same building as Dance Center students.
“I was very clear early on that these relationships that I needed to make in the field — I knew I needed to make those as an undergrad student,” she said. “I saw that right away.”
One of those connections was with Eduardo Vilaro, the director of New York’s Ballet Hispanico who taught at the Dance Center and launched Luna Negra Dance Theater while based in Chicago.
“He’s my mentor to this day,” she said. “I realized what Columbia had is an inroad to the field — now. That was really valuable to me. I found the undergirding I needed.”
Sanders-Ward pursued graduate study at New York University. That’s where she launched Red Clay Dance, so named for the red earth of Alabama, where she was born. But since 2011, Red Clay has been in and for Chicago. The African diaspora is deeply felt and evident in the work, combining traditional and Afro-contemporary forms with modern dance, a sensibility honed at Columbia and beyond, on multiple continents, and most recently, in Sanders-Ward’s pursuit of a certification on Katherine Dunham’s technique.
The company’s home base is in Woodlawn, a gleaming dance center steps from the Green Line that opened in 2021 after a long stretch in shared Chicago Park District space in Fuller Park. The South Side is teeming with possibility for dance, but there aren’t currently more than a handful of physical spaces to rehearse and perform. Red Clay has found one performance home at the Logan Center for the Arts, and transformed others, like the DuSable Roundhouse, into viable ones. The Red Clay Dance Center houses two studios, office space and costume storage. They host rehearsals and classes plus a creative rental program called “In the Works,” fashioned somewhat like a gym membership for practicing artists seeking affordable space. It’s right-sized, for now, but if I know anything about Sanders-Ward, she’s already thinking beyond their 63rd Street storefront.
“I think a lot about lineage, legacy, continuity — what’s next,” she said. “This space was always more than just a home for Red Clay. But I’m thinking more about how it can serve. What else can we do?”
In March, Red Clay also affirmed their presence downtown, capping their 15th anniversary with a rousing Harris Theater debut. Part of an expanded La Femme Festival, Sanders-Ward premiered one of her strongest works to date, titled “Unconditional Conditions.” She was joined by Dallas-based choreographer Michelle Gibson and Fatima Robinson for the women-centered festival. The latter is notable for her commercial choreography, creating work for Michael Jackson, Aaliyah and The Black Eyed Peas, to name a few.
It was a big, bold step for the company (in a year of big, bold moves across the sector), strengthening the argument that Red Clay should be counted among Chicago’s best and brightest dance institutions. Case in point: Sanders-Ward will set a new work in the spring, created with dance titan Bebe Miller to be performed at her alma mater. It will be Red Clay’s first solo engagement at the Dance Center since 2019. Plans are in the works to perform at the Museum of Contemporary Art and return to the Harris Theater in the near future.
“I think we’re staying in this place,” Sanders-Ward said. “Thinking about those venues is expanding how I’m thinking of the artistic work. Not the direction, but the work. What are we showing here, and why are we showing it?”
Sanders-Ward and the company have acquired a long and impressive list of accolades over the years. In recent memory, Sanders-Ward was one of 12 Chicago artists to receive an inaugural Platform Award of $200,000 from the Walder Foundation. She’s been a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist, a 3Arts awardee and was inducted into Newcity’s Players 50 Hall of Fame. She was a Harvard Business School Club of Chicago Scholar. The company was named one of Chicago’s Cultural Treasures in 2021. Their success marrying artistry and activism was highlighted on PBS in May on an episode of “The Express Way with Dulé Hill.”
Sanders-Ward’s service to the community is equally robust. In September, she was named president of the Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago. She’s on the board of Dance/USA, a national dance service organization hosting its annual convention in Chicago next summer. She’s on that host committee, too. And on Fridays, Sanders-Ward teaches students in Loyola University’s dance program.
These and plenty more reasons deem Sanders-Ward deserving of a spot on this list of notable Chicagoans, too. But for her, it’s not about lists or awards — it’s about the work. The big picture is aimed at effecting social change within the dance sector, a principle she calls “artivism.”
“I’m investing in a place that’s invested in me,” Sanders-Ward said. “That’s not always easy. It feels meaningful to have the work be seen and have the investment be seen. I’m very committed to Chicago and have been for a really long time.”
“Artivism” is not just a turn of phrase — it’s a philosophy Sanders-Ward lives by. Initially, that meant casting a wide net, thirsting for knowledge and saying “yes” to everything. As time marched on, her vision has necessarily become narrower. As mentee has become mentor, Sanders-Ward says “yes” to fewer things, taking everything she’s learned and pouring the best bits into a custom-built institution — laser-focused on leaving the dance world a better place than she found it.
“This is really where my focus is. This is the path, right here,” Sanders-Ward said, seated at the conference table at Red Clay Dance Center. “I’m still here, doing the thing. But I’m also still dreaming.”
Lauren Warnecke is a freelance critic.
