When:
May 16–18, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
Where:
DuSable Museum Roundhouse, 740 W.
56th Place, Chicago
Red Clay Dance Company’s Vershawn Sanders-Ward (VSW) describes her combination of activism and dance performance as “artivism.” In this spirit she has created a new work called Art of Resilience 2.0. In this interview she shares insights with Picture This Post (PTP) readers about the inspiration for this project and how it came to be.
(PTP) What was the inspiration for this work?
(VW) The original work Art of Resilience was inspired by learning more about my beloved community, Bronzeville. I was driving down 51st Street and saw the painting of Lorraine Hansberry on the side of a building near the Green Line stop. I was struck by the beauty of the piece but also that it just seemed to appear out of nowhere. I drive down that street a lot and then one day, boom there she was. I begin to think about her connection to this community, both her creative work and work as what I consider an Artivist. I begin to read and learn more about her and her family's struggles with the housing covenants in Chicago at that time. I then began to research more about murals on the South Side and came upon the Wall of Respect. I begin to think more deeply about not only the people in my community but those that came before, moving to Chicago for a better opportunity. My research deepened as I learned about the “Black Belt,” the Race Riot of 1919 and the story of young Eugene Williams. I begin to think about the idea of black bodies occupying space, whether it be physical or through artistic mural. The goal of this space activation is to claim it as our space, everyone is welcome, but black bodies are not excluded from this space and free to occupy it in the fullness of our selves. Black folks have consistently occupied spaces that we did not design, and in spite of the many limitations and societal disruptions that have occured to stop our ability to occupy space, we continue to be resilient. We show our resilience through our music, our art, our culture, our dance, our voices, our LIVING, our BREATH! This work is to celebrate, showcase and affirm all of these things about BLACKNESS!!!
Did you do research independently or did you and the dancers explore the history of redlining and other issues in the work together?
Both, I did research on my own and then brought in and shared some specific information as well as shared links for the dancers to find more information. Company member Sara Ziglar also helped me in sourcing material for the poems and writings created during and in response to the Black Arts Movement and the creation of the Wall of Respect. Some of this material was selected for presentation in the work.
Did any of the DuSable’s unique collections inspire this work? What about the Roundhouse space?
Not exactly, but as we began our residency at the DuSable in creating the work, we were able to tour a current exhibition called Clearing a Path for Democracy: Citizen Soliders of the Illinois Fighting 8th. The connection to this work is that these soliders who had just returned from battle in World War I, fighting in France because the USA would not allow black men to carry weapons at that time, came back to Chicago, to the Black Belt to immediately be thrust into the heated situation that led up to the Race Riot of 1919. And after all of that, they were asked to work with the National Guard, against their own community, to stop the violence, which the people of the Black Belt did not start. It's an AMAZING exhibit, I highly encourage EVERYONE to visit.
The information about the performance mentions reclaiming space and audience participation in this. In our last review the way in which the audience participated was a big part of the work. Is this a philosophical tenet of Red Clay Dance or something embraced because it works with the particular work at hand or some other reason?
Authentic Community Engagement is and has always been at the crux of our work, including the part of the work you see in performance. We often present our work in our community, in our spaces, so those that experience our work on stage are an integral part of the entire experience. They lift us up, they affirm us, they say AMEN or ASHE with us, they live and breathe the work with us, so it is natural, it is organic, that THEY are a part of the WE created in the performance. It is the way that we work, and we feel it is representative of the essence and culture of the African Diaspora traditions that I and many of my company members identify with. We are called to carry on these traditions.
Tickets:
$30/$24 for seniors/students May 16 and 17
$100 May 18 including post-show Paint the Town Red fundraiser
Full price tickets are available on the Red Clay Dance Company website.
Learn more about dance by seeing dance through dancers eyes in the Picture This Post series, “Choreographers’ Eyes - Dancers Explain Dance”. Watch this video preview of the story here—
