Red Clay Dance Company, Inc.

We’ve officially launched our Fall 2025 cohort of Making The Artivist® — and we couldn’t be more energized. This season, we welcome 12 brilliant young apprentices into a 16-week journey exploring dance, storytelling, and community impact. Making The Artivist® is more than a program — it’s part of Red Clay Dance Company’s commitment to building pathways for young artists to grow, lead, and transform their world through movement. As our apprentices deepen their practice and develop projects rooted in social change, they become part of a larger legacy — one that centers purpose, equity, and creative leadership. Thank you to everyone who helps make this work possible — our partners, funders, and community. The work continues, and we’re proud to keep growing. 📍Based on Chicago’s South Side 💥 Rooted in Artivism 🛠️ Focused on workforce development through the arts #RedClayDance #MakingTheArtivist #Artivism #DanceEducation #ChicagoArtists #YouthDevelopment

Our Chicago Performs debut at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago was more than a performance — it was a reclamation. In Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar, we made space for Black girls and women in an institution that hasn’t always centered voices like ours. The result? Two sold-out nights filled with power, connection, and community. This was a love letter to Black girlhood — and a moment we’ll carry with us as we continue awakening “glocal” Artivism through dance. 📖 Read our full reflection: https://lnkd.in/gAdcidvq Photo: Ricardo Adame, courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago #RedClayDance #PerformingArts #LeadershipInTheArts #Artivism #BlackWomenLead

Creating with purpose is essential in the arts. Sharing experiences with aspiring artists is always rewarding. Recently, I had the privilege of speaking on an alumni panel for Columbia College Chicago in the new School of Theatre and Dance. This field is not for the weak, but the pursuit of your dreams is truly worth every struggle and NO…keep pushing until you get that YES!! Sanders Ward added, “Everything isn’t for everybody. Your job is to find who your work is meant for. Those twenty people in the audience? That’s your village. Build from there.” https://lnkd.in/e53ccnnj

Been a witness to your GENIUS for a minute sis, Tonika Johnson. Huge congrats on yet another distinguished recognition of your purpose, practice and impact as a 2025 MacArthur Foundation Genius! More blessings to come. 🎉🎉💐💐✨✨ Red Clay Dance Company, Inc. 2023 Culture Creator Awardee

Are you an experienced arts leader ready to drive the business side of a groundbreaking dance company? Red Clay Dance is hiring a Managing Director in Chicago. This 3‑month contract‑to‑hire role transitions to full‑time and is part of our succession plan toward Executive Director. Help us steward our mission of bringing Artivism to life and transforming communities through movement. Apply now: https://lnkd.in/gevMDtQt

I am thrilled to announce the search for Red Clay Dance Company, Inc.’s first Managing Director — a visionary leader who will join me in shaping the next chapter of our 17-year journey. This new role marks a major milestone in our evolution as a cultural institution rooted in Glocal Artivism — creating, performing, and teaching dances of the African Diaspora that awaken transformation in communities locally and globally. The Managing Director will serve as an integral part of our leadership team, helping to strengthen our foundation and guide Red Clay Dance into an exciting future. This position also has the potential to transition into an Executive Director role, as we continue to design a sustainable succession plan for the company’s long-term success. As the founder, I know the importance of legacy and partnership. Providing a solid succession plan is essential — it ensures that the vision, love, and labor poured into building Red Clay Dance continue to flourish. I am eager to collaborate with a leader who shares our values, believes in the power of art as activism, and is ready to grow with us. The opportunities are limitless! If you or someone you know is ready to make an impact at the intersection of art, leadership, and community, please view the full position announcement here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gccpnV3M #RedClayDance #ArtivismInMotion #LeadershipSearch #ArtsAdministration #DanceLeadership #GlocalArtivism #NonprofitLeadership

Chicago is never just a city — it’s a stage, a canvas, a chorus. Grateful to see Red Clay Dance Company, Inc. lifted up in IMPULSE Magazine's coverage (https://ow.ly/KYjE50X3fUW) of A City in Full Chorus: Chicago Exhibition Weekend — a reminder that our city’s rhythm is written in movement, culture, and the brilliance of Black women leading. Red Clay is artivism in motion. We awaken “glocal” change through African Diaspora dance, claiming space for joy, resistance, and transformation on Chicago’s South Side and beyond. If you don’t know Red Clay yet…this is your sign. Come dance with us. www.redclaydance.com #Chicago #Arts #Leadership #RedClayDance #WhereArtMeetsActivism

We’re still reflecting on the impact of Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar. This is what audiences had to say about the work. This is why we do what we do. This is why Artivism matters. 📸 Photo: Ricardo Adame, courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. #RedClayDance #BlackGirlhoodAltar #ArtivismInMotion

TEDxChicago The Future is Human Moving and magnificent - I did not expect to go to my first #TEDx in Chicago and cry 😢 The question was “What Makes us Human” and the answers ranged from love, loss, laughter, grief, creativity and travel to the sense of awe we all feel as we gaze at the stars 🌟 Thank you to Nikki Lynette who reminded us that we should gift flowers and express love while people are still with us, not just when they’re gone 💐 Natasha Pearl Hansen who spoke of humour as a pattern interrupter and turning loss into laughter ❤️🩹 Dr Hossein Zargartalebi who took his inspiration from leaves twisting on trees to perfect a biotech solution that is not just a tool, but “a window into life itself” and detects anomalies before the “whisper turns into a scream”. 👨🏻⚕️ Dr Heather Zheng who is developing tools to protect the full expression of human identity from our creative outputs to our voices and faces with Glaze, Nightshade and more to come. 👩🎨 Dr David Awschalom got us all entangled in quantum and encouraged us to ‘boldly go where no human has gone before’ in this most exciting (terrifying?) era for humanity and Professor Wendy Freedman left us with the call to Look Up! Ad Astra and I did, in fact, look up as I strolled along Michigan Avenue after the most inspirational afternoon. 💫 The final bow goes to Red Clay Dance Company, Inc. whose powerful combination of poetry and movement caught me off guard as I realised that what started as a soft, sweet paean to summers past, road trips and lip gloss, was in fact an elegy to young lives cut short. 🥀 What an absolutely phenomenal experience. Huge kudos and thanks to Kelly Martina Fernandez and her team. 👏🏼 My only request for next year - please can we get some Kleenex with our lanyards? 🥲 (More thanks and call outs in the comments)