Chicago Performs Reflection: Making Space at the MCA

Photo: Ricardo Adame, courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

This fall, we stepped into one of Chicago’s most celebrated spaces for contemporary art—and made it our own. Participating in the Chicago Performs Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) was a defining moment for us as a company.

To share the world premiere of Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar in such an esteemed institution was both humbling and powerful. For so long, spaces like the MCA have not always reflected or centered voices like ours. But when we entered that stage, we did so with the full force of our mission: to awaken “glocal” Artivism through dances of the African Diaspora.

This wasn’t just a debut—it was a reclamation.

As our Founder and Artistic Director Vershawn Sanders-Ward reflected:

“As the founding Artistic Director of Red Clay Dance Company, I find myself still searching for the right words to fully capture the depth and significance of our recent debut at the Chicago Performs Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art. To share the world premiere of my new work, Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar, in such an esteemed institution was a moment of profound joy and reflection.

This performance wasn’t just about our debut—it was about making space for Black girls and women in an institution that has historically been difficult to navigate for voices like ours. We claimed that space as our own and, with the overwhelming support of the community, SOLD OUT BOTH NIGHTS. The energy, the power, and the connection in that room were indescribable.

Freedom Square is a love letter to Black girlhood, to the experiences, dreams, and struggles that shape us. And to see our stories celebrated in this way was beyond anything I could have imagined. This is just the beginning. I cannot wait to take this work on tour. It’s one that the world needs to see, but, more importantly, it’s one that Black women and girls need to witness.”

The response from the Chicago arts community was deeply affirming. Freedom Square stood as a world-premiere statement on Black girlhood and collective memory—an altar built through movement, sound, and community ritual.

As WBEZ described, Freedom Square is “a love letter to Black women and girls,” a work that centers the stories often left out of traditional performance spaces.

The Chicago Tribune called the festival “a trio of dance works exploring memory, grief, and what gets left behind,” noting how each choreographer transformed the MCA stage into a space of remembrance and renewal .

For us, Freedom Square is all of that—and more. It’s a sacred offering to the past and a declaration for the future. Inspired by the Black Girlhood Altar installation from Freedom Square in Englewood, the work honors the lives of Black girls and women who have been lost to violence—including Rekia Boyd, Latasha Harlins, and Ma’Khia Bryant—while affirming the joy and resilience that continue to thrive in our communities.

We’re proud to have sold out both performances and to have witnessed such an outpouring of love from audiences who understood the depth of this offering. That energy—the call, response, and reflection shared in the room—is what Artivism looks like.

Performing at the MCA’s Chicago Performs Festival marked a new chapter for Red Clay Dance Company. It reaffirmed why we exist: to move people, to make space, and to remind the world that our stories matter.

We carry this moment with us into what’s next—onto future stages, into new communities, and toward even greater visibility for the voices we uplift through dance.

Thank you, Chicago, for showing up and showing love.