Winning Works

The Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, announces a national call for ALAANA artists to submit applications for The Joffrey Academy’s Ninth Annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition. The goal of the Award is to recognize talented and emerging ALAANA choreographers whose unique perspective will ignite creativity in the form of original works of dance. The winning choreographers will be awarded a $5,000 stipend. The choreographers will set their piece on the members of the Joffrey Studio Company and the Joffrey Academy Trainees culminating in a final performance in March 2019 and have the opportunity to seek guidance from Joffrey Artistic Director Ashley Wheater and Head of Studio Company and Trainee Program, Raymond Rodriguez. The Joffrey Academy of Dance’s Winning Works program will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Edlis Neeson Theater, 220 E. Chicago Avenue.

The application deadline has passed for the 2018 Winning Works Choreographic Competition. We will be in touch with all applicants soon. 

ELIGIBILITY: The Joffrey Ballet is looking for talented ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American) choreographers with 2+ years of experience setting work on classically trained dancers. Applicants must be from a minority ethnic group, 21 years of age or older, must be living in the U.S. or be able to cover travel expenses to the U.S.

DETAILS: The choreographers’ finished pieces must be a minimum of 10 minutes and maximum of 12 minutes long, and include a cast of at least 10 dancers. Selected choreographers will be given a minimum of 30 rehearsal hours to set their pieces. Each winning artist will receive a $5,000 stipend. Choreographers will be provided with travel and accommodations for the duration of their residency (two weeks in December 2018/ January/February 2019; schedule TBD). The completed new work will premiere March 2019 and may be performed at various venues around Chicago through the 2018–19 Academy year and beyond.

TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION

Online application is currently closed.

As part of the online application, applicants must submit:

- 3 References

- Headshot

- Curriculm Vitae

- A letter of intent describing your interest in the competition and the kind of work you will create in 500-1,000 words

- Video clip containing 2 or more choreography excerpts, along with a brief written description. Each choreography excerpt should not exceed 5 minutes. Submitted excerpts must include a work containing at least 8 dancers in the piece. In-studio rehearsal footage is also encouraged. Excerpts may be combined into one video or submitted in separate video clips.

There is no submission fee.

Any questions may be submitted to winningworks [at] joffrey [dot] org.

Photo by Cheryl Mann