FIVE CHOREOGRAPHERS,
FIVE PREMIERES

Winning Works gives emerging dancemakers
a coveted professional stage—and a
glimpse of dance’s next generation

The Joffrey Ballet’s Winning Works initiative has quietly become one of the most influential launching pads for emerging choreographers in American dance. Now in its 16th year, the program returns to Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art for two weekends—March 13–15 and March 19–21, 2026—offering audiences an early look at five new choreographic voices poised to shape the field’s future. If you want a glimpse of where dance may be headed next, this is one of the best places to look. And at $35 a ticket for five world premieres performed by dancers of the Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet Conservatory, no dance enthusiast should miss this.

Since launching in 2011, the program has evolved into one of the company’s most important platforms for emerging choreographers, giving promising dancemakers the rare opportunity to develop and present new work within a major professional setting. When Winning Works began, it focused specifically on artists of color whose heritages spanned the globe. The aim was to bring underrepresented choreographers to a broader stage and help amplify their contributions to the culture of dance. The process remains largely the same today: applicants submit a short video excerpt of their choreography along with a description of the piece they hope to develop. Selected choreographers then create original works for dancers who perform the premieres.

The program’s mission has gradually broadened, now recognizing “talented emerging artists whose unique perspectives will inspire creativity in the form of original works of dance,” while remaining mindful of its original access-driven purpose.

Fran Diaz, Julia Feldman, DaYoung Jung, Daniel Ojeda, Alexandra Schooling

This year’s five winners—Fran Diaz, Julia Feldman, DaYoung Jung, Daniel Ojeda, and Alex Schooling—come from across the United States, with Diaz currently based in Berlin. Their inspirations, choreographic approaches, and technical backgrounds vary widely, sometimes dramatically. That diversity makes the upcoming performances a rare opportunity to see multiple emerging voices side by side. For audiences curious about where contemporary ballet is headed—and who might shape its next chapter—Winning Works offers a revealing early look.

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Joffrey Ballet’s 16th Annual Winning Works
Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet
Edlis Neeson Theater
Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave.
March 13–15 and March 19–21, 2026
for tickets ($35), visit Joffrey Winning Works

Friday, March 13 at 7:30
Saturday, March 14 at 3 & 7:30
Sunday, March 15 at 2
Thursday, March 19 at 7:30
Friday, March 20 at 7:30
Saturday, March 21 at 2 & 7:30
Sunday, March 22 at 2

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