Winifred Haun & Dancers Announces Featured Artists and Program Info for ‘FIRST DRAFT 2026’

Winifred Haun & Dancers will present the sixth annual FIRST DRAFT: New Work by Chicago-Area Dancemakers on Saturday, February 28 at 7 pm and Sunday, March 1 at 3:30 pm at the Ann Barzel Theater at Visceral Dance Center. FIRST DRAFT 2026 will feature two programs presented over two evenings, premiering 11 new works created by 11 award winning Chicago-area choreographers.

Featured Artists are: Eona SBC, Darryl Clark, Robin Davis, Vernon Gooden, Winifred Haun, Denita Inez, TJ Morris, Regina Perry-Carr, Julia Schaeffer, Dillon Zamora, and Little Fire Artist Collective.

The purpose of FIRST DRAFT is to give local choreographers and dancers the opportunity to present their latest works in a professionally produced context. The public presentation of a nearly completed dance work is an essential step for dancemakers as they develop high-quality new work. FIRST DRAFT also gives audiences the chance to experience new work, discover new dance artists, and witness the creation of new dances.

Eona SBC, a Company Dancer with Winifred Haun & Dancers since 2023, will present a duet, X., V., and an infinity, that explores how relationships can transform from strangers to friends, friends to enemies, enemies to lovers, and lovers to strangers.

Darryl Clark, an independent choreographer and professor of dance at SIU-Carbondale, will premiere a new duet, Redux. Inspired by Alvin Ailey’s Pas De Duke, Redux is elegant, slightly insouciant, and jazzy, and features music by Aaron Copland.

WH&D Company Dancer Robin Davis will present Sisyphus’s Punishment, a work for six dance artists featuring music by Meredith Monk. When asked to describe the work, Ms. Davis replied with a quote from Albert Camus: “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

Vernon Gooden, WH&D Assistant Choreographer, will create a duet which is currently untitled. The new work is for WH&D Company Dancers Robin Davis and Lourdes Taylor, and it explores the shifting fate of complicated relationships.

Winifred Haun, Founder & Artistic Director of WH&D, will present her newest group dance, The Middle of Forever. This work for eight dance artists suggests the difficulty of attempting to see the unseen, and the frustration of trying to see something that is purposefully hidden.

Artistic Director of Desueno Dance, Denita Inez, will show her latest creation Eventide Dayajay, a quartet that uses Latin jazz and Contemporary Latin movement to investigate the balance and flow of human connections.

Terrence “TJ” Morris, a dance artist who performs with Movement Revolution Dance Crew, will present Is it Real, or just Anxiety? a group work for six dancers. The work describes the pressure that many young people feel, to be both good at what they do, and to be accepted by their peers.

Former Artistic Director of Muntu Dance Theatre, Regina Charly-Beth, will present a group work, Traces from Before. The new work is a reflective and urgent meditation on memory, inheritance, and collective responsibility.

Julia Schaeffer, WH&D Assistant Artistic Director, will premiere In the Waves, a contemporary dance that explores the cycles and habitual patterns of humans. Incorporating dynamic cannons, architectural shapes, and sweeping release-based movement, the new work fills up the entire stage with only 6 dancers.

WH&D Company Dancer Dillon Zamora, will choreograph and perform in his latest solo, Smog Check. The work uses a sound design of Congressional testimony, found sounds, and his own breathing to investigate the impact of air pollution on the quality of our daily life.

Little Fire Artist Collective will show a duet, The Compartments, choreographed by LFAC company member, Laura Baumeister. Set to a sound design that includes the work of Tim Hector and David Toop, the duet investigates the impossibility of compartmentalization.

General Admission tickets to FIRST DRAFT are $49. 2 tickets are $78, and 4 tickets are $140. Book here.

FIRST DRAFT 2026 will also present a Master Class for advanced dancers on Sunday, March 1 from 12:30-2:00 pm. This Master Class gives experienced dance artists the chance to take a contemporary dance class with Winifred Haun. Participating dancers will also learn choreography from FIRST DRAFT 2026. Fee to attend is $65 and includes complimentary ticket to the performance. Book here.

More info about the Company and its community partners can be found at www.WinifredHaun.org

First Draft 2026, Image supplied by Winifred Haun & Dancers