John Neumeier in Conversation
Milwaukee-born JOHN NEUMEIER has been the Director and Chief Choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet since 1973. Yet his dance career and formative training took place in mid-century Chicago, most notably with modern dancer Sybil Shearer and the Stone-Camryn Ballet. This video documents a conversation between Mr. Neumeier and dance scholars…
Art Institute of Chicago Purchases Ray Johnson Moticos and Ephemera from the Foundation
It was an astonishing find in the attic of the Morrison-Shearer Foundation back in 2013. There it was; a pristine collection of Ray Johnson “moticos” tucked inside their original envelope with the postmark December 30, 1955. With this discovery, the exciting times of Sybil Shearer and Helen Morrison’s connection to…
A Space to Create
A Space to Create is a visually stunning, poetic and complex sixteen-minute film that tells the remarkable story of Sybil Shearer and Helen Balfour Morrison. As artful as the work of these two artists themselves, the film itself is in motion and exquisitely complements the visuals of Helen Balfour Morrison…
The Sybil Shearer Studio Opens at Ragdale
The Morrison-Shearer Foundation and the Ragdale Foundation marked the opening of the Sybil Shearer Studio in the new Studio House of Dance and Music with “Space to Move,” a celebratory event held on National Dance Day, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. The event featured a promenade-style dance performance directed by Kristina…
Stephanie Martinez Named 2023 Sybil Shearer Fellow at Ragdale
Award winning choreographer, Stephanie Martinez, has been selected as the second recipient of the Sybil Shearer Fellowship for an artist's residency in the new Sybil Shearer Studio at Ragdale. Stephanie is the Founder and Artistic Director of PARA.MAR Dance Theatre in Chicago. Through this fellowship, Stephanie will explore the work…
Through the Morrison-Shearer Foundation, dance maverick Sybil Shearer continues to enrich Chicago dance
Chicagoland’s dance community has an important and enduring friend in dance maverick Sybil Shearer and the Morrison-Shearer Foundation. The Foundation, established in 1991, perpetuates the legacy of dancer/choreographer Shearer and collaborator/photographer Helen Balfour Morrison as an inspiration for new creativity in the arts by providing grants, the Sybil Shearer Fellowship…
Volume III of Sybil Shearer’s Autobiography
Volume III of Sybil Shearer's autobiography, Without Wings the Way Is Steep: The Reality Beyond Realism, holds insights by the 20th Century modern dance pioneer during her later years, living alone in Northbrook (1985-2004) as critic, writer, and Anthroposophist. In it, her two worlds - dance and Anthroposophy - are…