After several years of working in close collaboration with the Ragdale Foundation, the Morrison-Shearer Foundation helped to plan and build the Sybil Shearer Studio at Ragdale in Lake Forest, Illinois. As part of the House of Dance and Music, the studio provides an inspiring space for creativity in dance and movement – a living legacy of Sybil Shearer and Helen Balfour Morrison.  The Studio was officially opened in a joint celebration on September 18, 2021.

This collaborative relationship between Ragdale and the Morrison-Shearer Foundation in promoting dance and inspiring new work was an elegant marriage of each organization’s mission and commitment to artistic exploration and creation.  The result is a celebration of each one’s past heritage and a promise of the dance heritage it will build in making the space available for creative exploration in dance and movement.

The construction of the House of Dance and Music was made possible by a $1.5 million, one-time grant to Ragdale from the Morrison-Shearer Foundation, along with an additional $400,000 raised by Ragdale. The campus is located on the verdant 5-acre historic grounds of the former country estate of architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, not far from Lake Michigan, approximately 30 miles north of Chicago.

The Sybil Shearer Studio at Ragdale brings about the realization of the dream of modern dance pioneer Sybil Shearer (1912 – 2005) and her longtime artistic collaborator, photographer Helen Balfour Morrison (1901 – 1984). Shearer and Balfour Morrison envisioned creating a tranquil location where artists could hone their skills and advance their artistic self-expression free from distractions.

The 2500 square foot building houses both the state-of-the-art Sybil Shearer Studio and adjacent composer’s studio provides artists with space for contemplative creativity and the opportunity to explore their practice within a group of other artists with housing and meals provided during their residency.

The House of Dance and Music was designed by Woodhouse Tinucci Architects; the general contractor for the project was Jake Goldberg of Goldberg General Contracting, Inc. and landscape design was by Rosborough Partners, Inc.

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Morrison Shearer Foundation                             Ragdale Foundation and Residency

This accomplished couple celebrates 18 years of marriage, and an even longer partnership as dancers.  Each is an impressive artist, sharing rich and impressive international careers as dancers, choreographers, dance administrators, teachers and mentors.

Both Maray and Victor are natives of Cuba.  They met while they studied together at Escuela Nacional de Arte – the prestigious National School of Dance. They each acquired a formidable technique in the rigorous training ground of Cuban dance schools with facility at theatrical interpretation.  At an early age they were professional touring dancers with Danza Contemporanea de Cuba for ten years, working with esteemed choreographers Giovanni de Cicco, Donald McKayle, Joaquin Sabate, Jan Linkens and Marianela Boan (Founder of Danz Abierta) and others.  Their international performances thrilled audiences throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, and the United States. TV and film work includes British Television, the PBS documentary on Ruth Page’s work, CDI/Concert Dances “Billy Sunday”, and Hedwig Dances’s “Arch of Repose.”

Upon their arrival to Chicago in 2002, they became highly valued artistic members of Hedwig Dances, each serving the company for many years, in various capacities, including principal dancer, choreographer, and valued artistic associate. Since then, singly and together, they have also worked with Luna Negra, CDI/Concert Dance, the Lyric Opera, and the Houston Grand Opera.

Maray was named Artistic Associate of Hedwig Dances in 2007 and participated as a key creative collaborator in all the company’s works until 2021, when she moved downstairs from Hedwig’s fourth floor office to become artistic associate at the Ruth Page School of Dance and the Civic Ballet.

Victor joined the artistic and administrative staff of the Ruth Page center for the Arts in 2013.  In his joint responsibilities as Director of the RP School of Dance and the Civic Ballet he directs and expands the Ruth Page traditions dance education.  He has developed and expanded the School’s reach with important collaborations and exchanges with leading dance institutions with the establishment of the Ruth Page School of Dance’s International Sister Schools program which currently includes the Escuela Nacional de Ballet de Cuba (Havana, Cuba since 2015); Profesion Dance & Mandala Dance Company (Rome, Italy since 2015);  Conservatorio Profesional de Danza A Coruña (Coruña, Spain since 2016); Ironi Aleph High School of Arts (Tel Aviv, Israel since 2016);  Escuela Superior de Música y Danza de Monterrey (Monterrey, Mexico since 2018); Instituto Colubiano de Ballet Clásico (IncolBallet) (Cali, Colombia since 2018).

Each have received Emmy nominations for their work in various dance films, and have been lauded on countless occasions by the media, dance organizations, with numerous awards, residencies and fellowships in recognition of their exceptional artistry.

Now Victor and Maray are again working together in the Ruth Page center.  Together they are working toward a grand, shared vision of dance and dance education as an international exercise in building creative and cultural bridges, mentoring and training the next generations of young dancers here and abroad.

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Maray Gutierrez Ramis                                                            Victor Alexander

Yolanda Cesta Cursach Montilla is an independent curator, member of the Creative Independent Producers Alliance, and former Curator of Performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Her practice is defined by working closely with artists at every stage of investigation, creation, and touring, and building collaborative environments that center community and partnerships. Her focus is artists and culture producers in Chicago, the U.S., Ibero-Latin America, Europe, North and Sub-Sahara Africa, and Indigenous Nations. She is Curator of Destinos International Latino Theater Festival produced by Chicago Latino Theater Alliance; Mentor for Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artists; Artistic Associate for the FACE Foundation programs FUSED and FACE Contemporary Theater; and Facilitator for Moving Forward Dialogues at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University. She is a Practitioner with Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, and a Board member with NON:op Open Opera Works and 6018North. She has Chaired Programming and Structure for Bodies of Work Festival of Disability Arts and Culture; and was U.S. Curator and Tour Producer for Southern Exposure Performing Arts of Latin America, a program of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA); Hub Site for the National Dance Project of New England Foundation for the Arts; and Chair of International Programs and Board member for National Performance Network. Panel service includes Creative Capital, The McKnight Foundation, the NEA, MAP Fund, and USArtists International. She is recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow Lifetime Award for Humanitarian Work by Rotary International.

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