Red Clay Dance in “Unconditional Conditions”/Photo: Michelle Reid

This weekend, Red Clay Dance will do something a little unusual for the company: present a mixed-repertory concert. The Afro contemporary company will spend two evenings at the Logan Center for the Arts with “Turning Points,” a bill that includes a piece by founding artistic director Vershawn Sanders-Ward; the live premiere of Lela Aisha Jones’ “We all ‘gon die: into revivals,” which debuted online during the pandemic; and a reprise of Amansu Eason’s “DevelopMino,” inspired by the female Mino warriors of Dahomey. We spoke with Sanders-Ward about the program and what resonates for her in the work of her colleagues.

I see that in its sixteen years, Red Clay has only commissioned works by four choreographers besides yourself. Why so few commissions in the life of the company to date?

I created Red Clay to be a home for my own choreographic work. But as the company continued and I was doing other projects, I became aware of colleagues’ work. These are four artists whose work I really respected. I got to know a little of their creative process and there were some synergies and similarities. When I thought about commissioning work, I thought to start with people who had similar values around research and taking care of dancers and collaborators. I also felt the company was in a solid place—a choreographer could come in and there would be some structure there.

Can you give me an example of some of these similar values?

Definitely research. The works are all rooted in lived experience. Mino warriors are real. You look at movies like “The Woman King” or “Black Panther” and think these are mythological beings, but they were real people that lived and walked the planet. The work continues to center humanity, and research is an ongoing thing. In Lela’s work, tethering to nature, that’s who she is in her personhood. It’s not a one-off thing. There are things they do in their lives outside the studio to bring into their work. We’re not a company that’s like, “leave it at the door.” We’re walking through it every day and it’s going to show up if you want it to or not. So how do you embrace it and process it in the work? I think all their processes resonate with me—that the whole person needs to be in the room for the art to happen.

Tell me about the choice of these two choreographers for this program.

We had not really done a repertory concert. In our sixteen years we pretty much premiered a new work per season. We created Lela’s work right before the pandemic so we’ve only shared it virtually. I was looking for a window to bring that work to the stage. The first fall series since the pandemic is a great opportunity to show the breadth of Red Clay’s repertory. These works show the diversity in thought and the crux is centered around telling Black stories that center women. I think this is a nice palate that shows the progression of the company.

This is the first time Lela’s piece will be live on stage. It’s great it’s going to get the live experience it was intended for.

Yeah. We created it for live performance so we had to adapt it to present it virtually. I’m very excited, I’ve been thinking about it since 2020. It wasn’t created for people to experience through a screen.

Tell me a little about why you chose to work with Amansu Eason.

Yes, Amansu danced with Muntu Dance Theatre for a long time. This is the first piece he set on Red Clay. We both have training in Dunham technique so I was very familiar with his style of movement. And I knew the dancers would gel with his vocabulary. And really diasporic movement: dancehall, capoeira—another form we share. I also knew he would challenge them. It’s probably the last time we’ll see it live for a while.

Would you like to speak a little about your piece?

As I looked at the works in rehearsal the other day I was looking for the thematic tethering. Coming out of the pandemic, I was doing some deep leadership work thinking about how I wanted to move the company forward. I was reading a book about shadow work and things about your character that may not be pleasing, but there are reasons they exist inside your persona. I wanted to explore that idea with the dancers. I think there are things we hide from ourselves. How do we process through coming out of a period of deep isolation? So the title “Unconditional Conditions”: I think there’s an idea about unconditional acceptance but we still tend to put weird conditions on for some reason. 

I like that theme a lot.

It was a conversation I was having in a lot of spaces about leadership. I think other parts of me had to show up that, in the past, I might not have been okay exposing. But I realized this part of me needed to show up. And then learning how to manage it and access it when I need it.

It’s interesting: When you’re in the body, things come up. Some of the dancers were ready to be more vulnerable than others. I think that’s part of the process; let’s journey through this together. The partner work made it feel like someone was there to carry the load with you.

Red Clay Dance Company’s “Turning Points” at the Logan Center for the Arts, 915 East 60th. Friday, October 25, and Saturday, October 26, at 7:30pm. Tickets are $35-$45, available at tickets.uchicago.edu.