Lela Aisha Jones, Assistant Professor of Dance, Debuts Choreography in 'Visions & Voices'

Lela Aisha Jones—assistant professor of dance, associate artistic director for Chicago-based arts organization Brownbody, and founder of “creative home” FlyGround—joined Red Clay Dance Company in a May 22 virtual dance concert Visions & Voices. Her commissioned choreographic debut with Red Clay Dance titled "we:all ~ gon’ die into revivals" is “an artistic | soulful labor expressing our dreams for blackness and our reciprocity with the natural environment.”

Chicago Reader’s Staff Pick for Best Dance Organization in 2019, Red Clay Dance Company’s mission is to “awaken ‘glocal’ change through creating, performing and teaching dances of the African Diaspora–change.” The company’s all-female ensemble offers education programming in addition to local, national, and international performances.

In their virtual show, "Visions & Voices," the company asked national and international audiences to consider a central question: “How do our bodies manifest the world around and through us?"

Jones’ commissioned choreographic work was accompanied by work from choreographer Du’Bois A’Keen and Artistic Director of Red Clay Dance Company Vershawn Sanders-Ward in this contemplative, culturally rich, and innovative performance with three world premieres.

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Lela Aisha Jones is a movement performance artist, an interdisciplinary collaborator, community-grounded organizer/curator, and the founding director of Lela Aisha Jones | FlyGround, her creative research home. She earned a B.S. in health science education from the University of Florida, an M.F.A. in dance from Florida State University, and a Ph.D. from Texas Woman's University. Learn more about Jones and the rest of the program's faculty on the Dance Program page.