Clarity, movement, purpose and arrival—four words that describe where the venerable Red Clay Dance Company and its Founding Artistic Director and CEO Vershawn Sanders-Ward are at.

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago announces 16 by Red Clay Dance Company for three performances only, April 17-19, 2025, featuring Founding Artistic Director and CEO Vershawn Sanders-Ward (‘02)’s new staging of Written on the Flesh and a premiere by Bebe Miller—commissioned and set on Red Clay Dance Company dancers including Columbia alumni Amaya Arroyo (‘23) and Celeste Brace (‘23).

Vershawn Sanders-Ward is a visionary director, choreographer, educator and ARTIVIST who is transforming the landscape of contemporary dance through her art and activism. As the Founding Artistic Director and CEO of Red Clay Dance Company, she blends African diasporic dance forms with modern techniques, creating performances that inspire social change and provoke thought.

When it came time to select a college, Columbia College Chicago had some of the things Vershawn Sanders-Ward was looking for. The others, she had to find on her own. 

“African dance was in the basement; it was one class,” she said. “When I was at a point where I had the confidence to say, ‘I really need this,’ I had to figure out a way to make it work.”

This weekend, Red Clay Dance will do something a little unusual for the company: present a mixed-repertory concert.

The nonprofit Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago, an organization that collectively advances excellence in the work of the Black arts and culture sector, has announced Vershawn Sanders-Ward as its new board president, effective immediately. 

Chief Manny (Brandon Calhoun), Brendan Fernandes, Darrell Jones, Vershawn Sanders-Ward, and Robyn Mineko Williams are among the inaugural recipients of the Walder Foundation’s Platform Awards, each of which includes a $200,000 unrestricted grant and professional development opportunities.

The Walder Foundation has named three Chicago-based performing artists, including two Columbia College Chicago alumni and one faculty member, as recipients of its prestigious 2024 Platform Awards.