Dallas Black Dance Theatre Announces Spring 2021 Performances

Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) is completing its 44th season with all virtual performances. In January 2021, the company will continue to capture the dance and choreography on video in natural outdoor environments across Dallas in many instances. Additionally, the dance company has decided to make virtual performances a part of its offering, even after it goes back to performing live in venues.

Through its virtual performances, Dallas Black Dance Theatre has reached new audiences across the country and worldwide, including Australia, England, and Norway.

"During the summer of 2020, Dallas Black Dance Theatre became the first professional dance company nationally and internationally to consistently present paid virtual performances as a new business model after the closing of live performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said DBDT Executive Director Zenetta S. Drew. "This new model has resulted in extending the organization's reach beyond the theatre, allowing audiences in areas the company has never traveled to physically to enjoy performances."

The DBDT Spring Season launches in January 2021 with Legacy performances of audience favorites. The artistic team has adapted the choreography of some dances from the stage, bringing the dances to life at locations across the Dallas landscape.

DBDT: Encore! | The Choreographer Experience: Established & Emerging Saturday, January 9, 2021, 7:00 pm CST/8:00 pm EST Virtual Performance

Unsettled Thoughts by Richard A. Freeman, Jr., features an excerpt of the work that explores the roles of the heart and mind. Some Moan for Love, by the late Darryl B. Sneed, is a solo that expresses the sentiment of love in hopes of reciprocation. COLD, a duet choreographed by Floyd McLean, Jr., is filled with searing strength and colossal control. Weighted by Shauna Davis is a thought-provoking work that explores pushing past physical boundaries.

DBDT | LEGACY PERFORMANCE SERIES + DANCEMAKER'S DISCUSSION Saturday, January 23, 2021, 7:00 pm CST / 8:00 pm EST Virtual Performance

If you just want a good laugh, you don't want to miss Monologues choreographed by DBDT veteran dancer Sean J. Smith. The work showcases a series of satirical sketches featuring characters dealing with anxieties, like Ken and Barbie, nerdy spelling-bee contestants, the wife of an alcoholic, and a lottery winner. The audience can talk to the choreographer and dancers in a Dancemaker's Discussion that follows the performance.

DBDT: Encore! Reminisce Saturday, February 6, 2021, 7:00 CST / 8:00 EST Virtual Performance

The DBDT: Encore! February 6th performance Reminisce reflects on the Civil Rights Era, paying tribute through the music of Andra Day, Aretha Franklin, and Gladys Knight & The Pips with the empowering words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This work was a collaborative effort by DBDT: Encore! Artistic Director Nycole Ray, DBDT: Encore! Artistic Assistant Richard A. Freeman, Jr., Encore! dancer Terrell Rogers and the entire Encore! company.

CULTURAL AWARENESS Saturday, February 29, 2021, 7:00 pm CST/ 8:00 pm EST Virtual Performance

Dallas Black Dance Theatre produces a dramatic perspective on Civil Rights activism through movement, set to the musical genius of Odetta Holmes in ODETTA. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Associate Artistic Director Matthew Rushing choreographed this work to pay tribute to Odetta's musical range of folk, gospel, and blues music. The Mourner's Bench exemplifies the choreographic brilliance of Talley Beatty. He created the solo in 1947, which portrays an emotional, spiritual struggle with social inequity in the rural South during the Civil War.

DBDT: Encore! DANCING BEYOND BORDERS Saturday, March 13, 2021, 7:00 pm CST / 8:00 pm EST Virtual Performance

Dr. Lorenzo "Rennie" Harris' choreographic genius shines in Hate 2 Luv U, an intriguing blend of street-dance styles with house music based on current social themes. Tidal Intersections is a high-powered contemporary modern work for the full company by Polish-born choreographer Katarzyna Skarpetowska. Nycole Ray choreographed Opaque, a full company work that embodies movements that manifest a mysterious and majestic atmosphere.

DBDT: Encore! RISING EXCELLENCE Saturday, April 17, 2021, 7:00 pm CST / 8:00 EST Virtual Performance

A first for Dallas Black Dance Theatre, a dance/choreographic duo consisting of Derion Loman and Madison Olandt based in Los Angeles. Together they have created The Long Wait for DBDT: Encore! The dance takes the audience on a desert experience of the human spirit, refusing to give up even when it can't see the finish line. Nineteenth vividly captures the triumphant struggle waged by women for equality in the suffrage movement. Choreographer Nycole Ray creates a unique new work that explores the personal struggles of women as they balance families, work, and other commitments with their pursuit of equality.

SPRING CELEBRATION Saturday, May 22, 2021, 7:00 pm CST / 8:00 pm EST Virtual Performance

Dallas Black Dance Theatre takes you on an emotional journey through the process of forgiveness and unconditional love in A Tender Pardon. DBDT veteran dancer Claude Alexander III choreographed the work.

For virtual ticket prices and more details about the performances, visit www.DBDT.com.

2020-2021 | DBDT Season Sponsors

Legacy Sponsor: Simmons Sisters Fund at Texas Women's Foundation

Season Sponsors: Office of Arts and Culture - City of Dallas, Texas Instruments, NBC 5, Texas Metro News, The Dallas Morning News, NorthPark Center, TACA, American Airlines, The Shubert Foundation Inc., DART, and The Dallas Weekly.

2020 - 2021 | DBDT Season Supporters

Texas Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Lexus, Elite News, FYI-50+, The Dallas Examiner, The Dallas Post Tribune, Oversee My IT, Trendy Africa, and Arts+Culture.

2020-2021 | DBDT COVID Resilience Sponsors

Anonymous, LKS Foundation, Mid-America Arts Alliance United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund, Office of Arts and Culture - City of Dallas Coronavirus Relief Fund, National Endowment for the Arts CARES Act, Oversee My IT, Dallas Black Dance Theatre Board of Directors, Henry C. Beck, Jr. Donor Advised Fund at Texas Women's Foundation, Kate Wilson Davis Fund at Texas Women's Foundation, The Eugene McDermott Foundation, PNC, Wells Fargo, Anonymous, Communities Foundation of Texas/North Texas Giving Day, Chase, Deedie Rose, TACA Emergency Arts Relief Fund, Sally Pian & Ira Silverman, Lucy and Henry Billingsley Fund at Texas Women's Foundation, Ford Reynolds Fund of the Southwest Community Foundation, Keron Wright.

ABOUT DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE: Dallas Black Dance Theatre is an internationally recognized professional dance company that engages the cross-cultural community through contemporary modern dance presented from the African American experience. The National Endowment for the Arts designated the 44-year-old company as an American Masterpiece Touring Artist in 2008. The company also received the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Arts Education in 2017. As Dallas' oldest and largest professional dance company, DBDT ranks as the 10th largest minority arts organization in America and the fourth largest black dance company in the nation.

Ann Williams founded Dallas Black Dance Theatre in 1976. Melissa M. Young took over the helm as Artistic Director in 2018 after starting at the company as a dancer in 1994. Zenetta S. Drew has led the administrative side of the company since 1987 as Executive Director.

The mission of Dallas Black Dance Theatre is to create and produce contemporary modern dance at its highest level of artistic excellence through performances and educational programs that bridge cultures and reach diverse communities. The virtuosic dancers of Dallas Black Dance Theatre have mesmerized 4.3 million arts patrons across 16 countries, including two Olympic Cultural events.

Five performing companies comprise Dallas Black Dance Theatre and its training Academy. DBDT consists of 12 full-time salaried dancers performing a mixed repertory of modern, jazz, African, and spiritual works by national and international choreographers. DBDT: Encore! features six artists of rising excellence from across the nation who support DBDT's growing local and regional educational outreach. 2.7 million students, grades K-12, have experienced the dance company's performances and educational outreach programs.

Dallas Black Dance Academy, the official school of Dallas Black Dance Theatre, celebrates 47 years of delivering dance instruction to a community of diverse backgrounds. The academy was the first in the nation to train a student who received the Presidential Scholar Award in Dance in 1980. More than 500 students participate weekly in 50 dance classes, which include ballet, jazz, tap, modern, and African. Classes are held at DBDT's studios and are open to students ages four to adult. The academy has three performing ensembles: Allegro Performing Ensemble, DBDT's premier academy ensemble, Senior Performing Ensemble, and Junior Performing Ensemble.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre's primary home in the historic Moorland YMCA building in the Dallas Arts District includes dance studios, training facilities, and administrative offices. Dallas Black Dance Theatre is a resident company of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and its performance home is the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre.

For more details, visit www.DBDT.com and www.dbdt.com/academy.

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