1930’s – Black Dance Festival: DMV

Timeline

Jul 08

Project ChArma

Founded by husband and wife hip-hop duo Chris and Ama Law in 2017, Project ChArma is a collective of teaching...

Jul 08

Tariq Darrell + The Unum Dance Collective

Tariq Darrell O’Meally, the Founder of Tariq Darrell + The Unum Dance Collective, is an artist searching for the power...

Jul 08

Terre Dance Collective

Robert is the founder of Terre Dance Collective. Terre Dance Collective is a group of movement artists working to create...

Jun 11

Da’Shown Rawl

A Baltimore School of the Arts and George Mason alumnus, Rawl founded RawArts Dance Company to fulfill his passion for...

Jun 11

RawArts Dance Company

Founded in 2015 by Da’Shown Rawl, RawArts Dance Company is a contemporary dance company based in the Washington D.C metro...

Jun 11

The 2010’s: Collaboration Remixed

Gentrification and new idealisms change the facade and feel of Washington, DC. Traditional D.C. Black dance companies begin to ebb...

Jun 11

Jun 11

Shawn Short, MFA

Founder of Dissonance Dance Theatre and Ngoma Center for Dance, DDT’s parent organization; Producer of Black Dance Festival : DMV

Jun 11

Dissonance Dance Theatre

Image: Alexix Smith & Tony Sewer of Dissonance Dance Theatre/Shawn Short

Jun 11

Dissonance Dance Theatre/Timeless Dance. Remixed.

A young Black dancer during the decline of Washington, DC’s Black dance golden age (1932 – 2000), Shawn Short represents...

Jun 11

Sons & Daughters of D.C. African Dance

Reared from the traditions of African dance & drum elders of Memory of African Culture, KanKouran Dance Company, Sankofa Dance...

Jun 11

Steven “Kahos” Wilson

Founder/Executive Steven “Kahos” Wilson of Oasis Dance Company

Jun 11

Be Yourself: LGBT Welcomed/Oasis Dance Company

Dancers are welcome regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, or religion. Founded in 2003 by Steven “Kahos”...

Jun 11

Hip Hop Artist Aysha Upchurch

A woman from St. Louis, MO named Aysha Upchurch. Aysha moved to Washington, D.C. to pursue her educational pursuits in...

Jun 11

Urban Arts On Stage

The emergence of a hip hop voice unfolds with Urban Artistry. Founded by Executive Director Junious “House” Brickhouse in 2005,...

Jun 11

Fabian Barnes

Fabian Barnes. Image: Dance Theatre of Harlem

Jun 11

Washington Reflections Dance Company

As the Founding Director of Dance Institute of Washington, Fabian Barnes developed Washington Reflections Dance Company in 2003[1]. Barnes wanted...

Jul 08

Balafon West African Dance Ensemble

Under the direction of Kadiatou Conte, the mission of Balafon West African Dance Ensemble is to provide an insightful, woman-centered...

Jun 11

South African: Lesole Z. Maine

Lesole’s Dance Project was founded by Lesole Z. Maine in 2003. Maine a native of Sebokeng, South Africa, a small...

Jun 11

21st Century Black Concert Dance in Washington, D.C.

Contemporary dance emerges, and dance fusion of techniques became the norm in Washington, D.C. in the early 2000’s.; artists launch...

Black dance of Washington, D.C. originated in the 1930’s. With many African-Americans living their lives as service men and women, factory workers, maids, and laborers, the arts were “out of reach” for most; a privilege for the educated and social elite. Image: Scurlock Photography Studios. Mrs. Bernice Hammond’s Dancing Class (1938), Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History)