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Choreographer Emilie Leriche has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Sybil Shearer Fellowship at Ragdale. This honor recognizes Leriche's exceptional contributions to contemporary dance and her innovative approach to movement and choreography. The Sybil Shearer Fellowship, funded by the Morrison-Shearer Foundation and established to honor the legacy of…

This year, the Morrison-Shearer Foundation joined a distinguished group of funders as a Platinum Sponsor of the bi-annual Dance/USA Conference that was held in Chicago, June 17-20, 2025. Other lead sponsors included Abby O’Neil & D. Carroll Joynes, Alphawood Foundation Chicago, Driehaus Foundation, Field Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, MacArthur Foundation,…

The Morrison-Shearer Collection is an extensive group of dance films that are preserved by and housed at Chicago Film Archives. The collection represents one of the most significant dance film archives in the Midwest, documenting a remarkable artistic partnership between photographer-filmmaker Helen Balfour Morrison and pioneering modern dancer-choreographer Sybil Shearer.…

Earlier this year, members of the Morrison-Shearer Foundation’s Board of Trustees visited the Chicago Film Archives  and the studio of noted photographer, Judy Natal. Through these visits and others, the Foundation is establishing the basis for its future support of the creative processes of media artists and their collaborators, set to launch…

Plans are underway for the digitization and wider distribution of Sybil Shearer’s three-volume autobiography: Without Wings The Way Is Steep. In addition to providing a fascinating view of an insider’s history of modern dance in America, the volumes offer intimate views into Shearer’s thoughts about leaving New York City and…

On Thursday, September 15, Jenny Harris, COSI Research Fellow for Modern and Contemporary Art at The Art Institute of Chicago presented a talk on her research into the fascinating connections between the seminal Pop Art figure, Ray Johnson, and Sybil Shearer. Her investigation was inspired by the acquisition of a…

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…

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 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…