Red Clay Dance Company, Inc.

Red Clay Dance Company lives to awaken “glocal” change through creating, performing and teaching dances of the African Diaspora–change that transforms cultural and socio-economic inequities in our local and global community.

Not only do we transform cultural and socio-economic inequities in our “glocal” community, but we also share stories we know to be true about who we are as a people. Through this work, we amplify voices of the African Diaspora, seek remuneration equity for artists, support Black women and create accessible excellence. 

We are a welcoming home for professional and pre-professional dancers, dance-lovers, and other artists to convene, create, and collaborate together. The professional touring Company of Artivists creates and performs thought-provoking, uplifting, challenging, socially-conscious Afro-Contemporary dance for audiences around the world. In addition, Red Clay Dance Academy and Red Clay Dance Youth Ensemble offer world-class training to youth, teens, and adults as a pipeline toward professional careers in the arts.

Our Community, Engagement, Education, Partnerships (CEEP) program provides accessible excellence in dance education to schools and community groups, and serves more than five hundred students throughout Chicago. Further, in an effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Black and Brown communities, the Dance Pamoja Challenge program was created to provide participants with high-energy, spiritually enriching virtual dance classes and mindfulness sessions that combat underlying health risk factors and offers access to free COVID-19 updates, testing and health screenings. We are also expanding our innovative Making the Artivist program which creates courageous spaces that empower local youth to share their stories and lift their voices while learning to lead impactful social change.

WE ARE ARTIVISM IN MOTION!