Spring Concert Series 16 Explores Identity, Resilience, and Transformation
Spring Concert Series: 16
From April 17–19, 2025, Red Clay Dance Company presented 16, its Spring Concert Series at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. The program brought together two powerful works that examined identity, resilience, and transformation through Afro-contemporary dance, marking a significant moment in the company’s artistic trajectory.
The concert featured the world premiere of Field: New Ground by legendary choreographer Bebe Miller, created in collaboration with the dancers of Red Clay Dance Company. Rooted in Miller’s earlier work Field (1997), the new piece revisited ideas of partnership and community, allowing contemporary contexts and the lived experiences of the performers to shape its evolution. The work reflected an ongoing inquiry into how relationships are formed, sustained, and reimagined through movement.
Alongside the premiere, the program included a reimagining of Written on the Flesh by Red Clay Dance Company’s Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO Vershawn Sanders-Ward. Originally created in 2016, the work posed the urgent question, “What is the residue of elegant racism, and how is it written on the flesh?” This new restaging deepened that inquiry, drawing inspiration from Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste and confronting systems of power, hierarchy, and racial inequity through embodied narrative.
Together, the two works offered audiences a layered evening of movement that balanced technical rigor with emotional depth. 16 invited reflection on the ways history, identity, and social structures live in the body, while also pointing toward resilience, forgiveness, and the possibility of transformation.
Following the opening night performance on April 17, audiences were invited to a post-show conversation with Miller and Sanders-Ward. The discussion provided insight into each choreographer’s creative process and the thematic intersections between the works, offering a deeper connection to the ideas explored onstage.
As part of the Spring Concert Series, Red Clay Dance Company also hosted a masterclass led by Bebe Miller earlier that day at the Red Clay Dance Center. Designed for advanced and professional dancers, the session offered participants direct engagement with Miller’s movement philosophy and approach to contemporary dance-making.
16 reflected Red Clay Dance Company’s ongoing commitment to presenting work that challenges, questions, and affirms. Through collaboration with visionary artists and sustained partnership with the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, the Spring Concert Series stood as a testament to the company’s dedication to artistic excellence and socially engaged performance.
