Our Partnerships

Creating community is a shared value for the artists of Winifred Haun & Dancers.

We are serious about forming lasting partnerships that serve our dancers, audiences, and our extended geographic communities.

Interested in creating community-based programming together?

Chicago Movement Collective

“In my career here in Chicago, I noticed a disparity between the expansive racial identities and vast gender expressions of our populace and the bodies I saw on stage. Dance has become an elitist pursuit and it is my goal to use whatever privilege I have to dismantle the way dancers are trained in 2020 and beyond. It's time for a different, more equitable model, and it is my hope that Chicago Movement Collective becomes one of them.”
– Founder Ethan Kirschbaum

The 3rd Coast Contemporary Dance Program was created in partnership with Chicago Movement Collective. We host year-round programming together.

Irene Hsiao

Irene Hsiao is a dancer, writer, and multidisciplinary artist. She creates performances in conversation with visual art in museums, galleries, and public spaces, a practice that includes site-specific interaction with visual artworks and experimental engagement with artists, institutions, and the public. She is the 2024 Resident Artist at the Heritage Museum of Asian Art, inaugural Artist in Residence at the Smart Museum of Art in 2020 and 2021, 2022-23 Fellow at High Concept Labs, first Artist in Residence at 21c Museum Hotel in 2022-2023, and a 2020 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist. Her performances have been presented at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Smart Museum, EXPO Chicago, Chicago Textile Week, Ragdale Foundation, Krannert Art Museum, Alma Art Gallery, and Kavi Gupta Gallery.

Irene is a former dancer with Winifred Haun & Dancers and has collaborated with us and our partners to create site-specific performances.

Maywood Fine Arts
Stairway of the Stars Dance Studio

Maywood Fine Arts provides affordable quality arts and fitness education for children and families in Maywood and surrounding communities to enrich and transform their lives.
MFA believes every child should have the opportunity to grow and thrive through the arts.

We have hosted workshops, residencies, Summer Dance Intensives and Young Dancer Project opportunities in partnership with MFA since 2018.

Park District of Oak Park

Park District of Oak Park offers a wide variety of accessible community programming throughout the OPRF area.

We have partnered with many departments of the Park District of Oak Park to create accessible and innovative events at historic sites in Oak Park, including Cheney Mansion, Pleasant Home, Mills Park and more since 2007.

Regina Perry-Carr

Regina Perry-Carr is a dancer, choreographer, artistic director, and producer based in Chicago, with over 30 years of expertise in West African dance forms. She was the Artistic Director of the Muntu Dance Theatre for many years, and founded a nonprofit organization focused on education and community engagement through dance in 2008. Regina frequently studies with Compagnie Bakalama in Senegal and has curated DanceAfrica Chicago. Her work emphasizes elevating African dance to the esteemed status it deserves. Regina is a celebrated educator, and has taught at globally recognized events and schools.

We have partnered with Regina in many different settings since 2020, including choreographic collaborations between Wini & Regina, Residencies with 3rd Coast, and at First Draft.

Sarita Smith Childs

Sarita Smith Childs is a Chicago based, dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist. Her professional performance experiences span the genres of modern, jazz, ballet commercial and contemporary dance. A proud native of Chicago’s West Side, Sarita is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College where she received a B.A. Liberal Arts degree with concentrations in Dance and Economics.
Sarita is honored to have performed for 11 years as an ensemble member, soloist, and rehearsal assistant for Choreographer, Randy Duncan Choreography, where she was cast as a Principal Ballet Dancer / Stunt Artist for Paramount Pictures, Save the Last Dance. She continues to work with Mr. Duncan as a repetiteur and guest rehearsal director for the Chicago Academy for the Arts Repertory Ensemble. She was also a dancer with Winifred Haun & Dancers.

We have partnered with Sarita for many events, including site-specifc performances with PDOP, and at First Draft.

Southern Illinois University- Carbonale

Southern Illinois University is a public research university in Carbondale, Illinois. Chartered in 1869, SIU is the oldest and flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. SIU enrolls students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.

Winifred Haun attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale from 1981 to 1984, graduating with a B.A. in Theatre/Dance. While obtaining her degree, Ms. Haun choreographed several works for student and faculty dance concerts and musicals. Ms. Haun also served as dance captain and assistant director while performing in summer stock theatre productions in southern Illinois.

We were in residency at SIU-C in the Fall of 2023.

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Unity Temple Restoration Foundation

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple is an architectural masterpiece, embodying the bold elegance, visionary experimentation, and functional integrity that characterize modern architecture. One of the earliest public buildings in the United States to feature exposed concrete, and the last surviving public building from Wright’s Prairie Period, Unity Temple is considered among the most innovative and imaginative structures of the 20th century. Wright described the building as “my contribution to modern architecture.”

We were in residency at Unity Temple February 2020- May 2023. We also collaborated with UTRF to curate a series of dance events for the Oak Park community in the summer of 2022.