DBDT Spring Celebration Series

NBC 5 and Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) invite you to the finale of DBDT’s 46th season with its Spring Celebration performance series showcasing the works of national choreographers and home-grown talent May 19th and 20th at 7:30 p.m. in the Wyly Theatre.

Spring Celebration provides a visual feast for the eyes with powerful and emotionally charged works. Choreographer Chanel DaSilva’s world premiere of T A B E R N A C L E features elaborate Afrofuturism costumes, a Pantheon-styled set design, and celebrates and magnifies the beauty, the complexities, and the many facets of Black people. DaSilva charts an artistic journey in a Wakanda-like land through layered emotions and concepts with the overall goal of paying homage to what it means to be Black in America. The Brooklyn, NY native developed the concept for T A B E R N A N C L E after the death of George Floyd in 2020. She considers herself an ARTivist using dance as a vehicle for social change and evolution towards a more diverse and inclusive dance industry and society. T A B E R N A C L E is the recipient of a grant from the TACA New Works Fund. Additional support comes from the CeCe Smith Lacey and John Ford Lacey Fund at Communities Foundation of Texas.

DBDT veteran dancer McKinley Willis choreographs her first mainstage world premiere for the company. Smile, a full-company ballet, is filled with whim and wonder, suspense, and unpredictability. Willis grew up in Dallas and has a long history with the company starting as a young student in Dallas Black Dance Academy, the official training academy of DBDT. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and received the Texas Commission on the Arts Young Masters Scholarship. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Art in Modern Dance Performance with a minor in Health and Exercise Science from the University of Oklahoma. DBDT founder Ann Williams hired McKinley straight out of college. The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation is supporting the works of female choreographers like Willis throughout the 46th Season.

Choreographer Kirven Douthit-Boyd takes us on a journey from anguish to bliss through the movements of his leading figures in Furtherance. This audience favorite is a ballet based on overcoming a personal struggle that ends with a celebration of triumph. Douthit-Boyd is the Associate Director of Dance Production & Artistic Director of COCAdance in St. Louis, MO. He performed nationally and internationally with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for 11 years.

About Dallas Black Dance Theatre
Ann Williams founded Dallas Black Dance Theatre in 1976 and retired in 2014. The dance company is now under the direction of Artistic Director Melissa M. Young. Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s mission is to create and produce contemporary modern dance at the highest level of artistic excellence through performances and educational programs that bridge cultures and reach diverse communities. As the largest and oldest professional dance company in Dallas, DBDT is the fourth-largest Black dance company in the nation, the ninth-largest contemporary modern dance company, and ranked 40th among the nation’s leading ballet companies. Located in the thriving downtown Dallas Arts District, DBDT has performed worldwide for over 4.5 million arts patrons and 2.7 million students in 32 states and 16 countries on five continents. The performances include two Olympics (1996 & 2012), the nation’s most prestigious venues (Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Broadway, Jacob’s Pillow), and for such luminaries as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and South African President Nelson Mandela. Since the pandemic began in 2020, DBDT performances have also been viewed virtually in 34 countries and 38 states. The Company has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as an American Masterpiece Touring Artist (2008) and received the Texas Medal of the Arts Award for Arts Education (2017) and a co-recipient of the National Medal of Arts (2023).

DBDT encourages the use of masks at its performances. For more information about DBDT, visit www.DBDT.com.

DBDT | Spring Celebration Series
May 19-20
7:30 PM
Dee & Charles Wyly Theatre
2400 Flora St.
Dallas, TX
In-person + Live streaming + On-Demand
www.DBDT.com