Clinard Dance is a Chicago-based performance and research organization rooted in movement, storytelling, and community practice. Founded in 1999 by Artistic Director Wendy Clinard, the organization has evolved from a flamenco company into a cross-disciplinary arts practice that cultivates dance, music, and storytelling projects grounded in collaboration, justice, and cultural exchange. Through performances, residencies, participatory research, and deep community partnerships, Clinard Dance fosters creativity as a pathway to connection, dialogue, and healing.
At the heart of Clinard Dance’s mission is a belief that movement is more than performance—it is a language of empathy, resistance, and repair. Our work begins with relationships: between artists and communities, between histories of oppression and acts of resilience, between the body and the stories it holds. We use dance as a shared language that transcends the limits of words, offering new ways to engage with experiences of injustice, displacement, and belonging. In every project, from a small studio workshop to a large ensemble performance, we seek to create spaces where people can move together across differences—spaces that make visible the human connections obscured by systems of punishment, exclusion, and inequity.
To view more photos and read testimonies from collaborators, check out this slide show sharing work over the years up until 2023.
DONATE TO CLINARD DANCE COMPANY.
Clinard Dance’s Pilsen studio is in the midst of a transformation, guided by community-based research. As we reimagine the space and work to continue to provide accessible programming and space to the community, please consider making a donation to help support our operating costs. Your charitable donation will help keep all of the fine programs and performances going.