![A Black dancer wearing an orange jumpsuit leans on a bench in front of them, legs outstretched.](https://i0.wp.com/chicagodancemakers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1300x920-lab.jpg?fit=1024%2C725&ssl=1)
10×10 | CROSSBODY COLLABORATIONS ARTIST 2020-2021
LAB ARTIST 2019
ELEVATE CHICAGO DANCE 2018
A native of Chicago, Vershawn Sanders-Ward holds a MFA in Dance from New York University and a BFA in Dance from Columbia College Chicago as a Gates Millennium Scholar. She is the Founding Artistic Director and CEO of Red Clay Dance Company and is a candidate for Dunham Technique Certification. Sanders-Ward is a 2019 Harvard Business School Club of Chicago Scholar, a 2017 Dance/USA Leadership Fellow, a 2013 3Arts awardee, and a 2009 Choreography Award winner from Harlem Stage NYC. Her work has been presented in New York, San Francisco, The Yard, and internationally in Toronto, Dakar and Kampala. Vershawn has received choreographic commissions from Columbia College Chicago, Northwestern University, and Knox College.
Photo caption(s) and credit(s): Vershawn Sanders-Ward, Red Clay Dance Company | Photo: Johanna Austin