Timeline Stories

Dr. Johnson was a choreographer, performer and artistic director for Images of Cultural Artistry Inc., In The Spirit of…Performance Company.  With extensive study at the Katherine Dunham Institute, East St. Louis Missouri and under the tutelage of Katherine Dunham and Pearl Reynolds peace and blessings be upon their souls, since 1982 she was given permission to perform works of Katherine Dunham as well as her choreography including the Katherine Dunham technique, ballet, modern dance forms, traditional dance of West Africa, the Caribbean and America. Dr. Sherrill Berryman Johnson who was the Founder/Artistic Director of the first HBCU B.F.A. Dance Program at Howard University in..Read More

Founded by husband and wife hip-hop duo Chris and Ama Law in 2017, Project ChArma is a collective of teaching artists, hip hop guardians, DMV representatives, parents, lovers, achievers, students and hip-hop ambassadors who promote social change through movement; pronounced “Karma” because it guides our lives. Source: https://www.projectcharma.com/about-pc.html

Tariq Darrell O’Meally, the Founder of Tariq Darrell + The Unum Dance Collective,  is an artist searching for the power within introspection and vulnerability in the African American body, as a means to synthesize kinesthetic stories that will resonate in a way that is socially relevant, empathetic, and impactful. O’Meally is also Dance Place’s 2017-18 New Releases Commissioned Artist and a 2018-19 Joe’s Movement Emporium NextLOOK Artist. He pursues this work as the Creative Artistic Director of Tariq Darrell+the UNUM Dance Collective. As a dancer & choreographer, O’Meally has worked and performed with Johnnie Cruise Mercer, the Red Project NYC, Ashani..Read More

Under the direction of Kadiatou Conte, the mission of Balafon West African Dance Ensemble is to provide an insightful, woman-centered perspective on West African tradition and culture as a source of healing and balance by providing quality education and entertainment to audiences of all nationalities and walks of life; founded in 2001 as a non-profit organization. Source: http://www.angelfire.com/on/balafon/html/kadiatou/index.html

Dubbed, “a 21st Century Renaissance Man” by The Washington Post, Powell is a choreographer, composer, painter, sculptor, photographer, filmmaker, graphic designer, and writer. He is a 1995 graduate of The Juilliard School and directed his own dance company, Tony Powell/Music & Movement, for 10 years (1997-2007). Pulitzer Prize-winning, Washington Post, dance critic Alan Kriegsman proclaimed that Powell is, “a master of more artistic trades than one can shake a stick at…a fresh, brilliant, idealistic artist in our midst!” A native Washingtonian, he has won numerous awards from the Maryland State Arts Council for his choreography, and his 4th String Quartet received the first-ever Metro DC Dance Award for Original Music. He has written three scores for the Internationally-renowned Parsons..Read More

Robert is the founder of Terre Dance Collective. Terre Dance Collective is a group of movement artists working to create emotionally engaging and physically compelling contemporary dance through collaboration. The collective was founded in July of 2017 and presents work in both the Washington D.C metro area and Cleveland, Ohio. Along with presenting in these locations, the group has also showcased work in New York City. (Source: https://terredance.wordpress.com/)

A genius choreographer and passionate teacher, Adrain Bolton is the former Founding Director of Adrian Bolton Dance Company and Co-Director of Bolton/Smith Dance Center.  An alumnus of the Duke Ellington High School for the Arts, Bolton choreographed vivid and entertaining dance works throughout the Washington, D.C. area since the 1990’s. He, like his longtime dance partner Katherine Smith, has touched the lives of many young Black students and professionals alike. He currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Image: Joe Movement Emporium

Founding Director of the Katherine Smith Contemporary Dance Ensemble. Katherine Smith danced professionally with Dayton Contemporary Company, Forces of Nature, Gallman’s Newark, New World and others, and toured nationally and internationally in George Faison’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf; Debbie Allen’s Soul Possessed, and Mike Malone’s Black Nativity, Spirit, and Purlie Bessie’s Blues. She has also performed in works by Donald McKayle, Ulysses Dove and Faye Snow, and been honored by the International Association of Blacks in Dance, of which she is a Board member. Smith formerly served as artistic co-director of the Adrian Bolton & Katherine..Read More

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