Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) celebrates its 46th anniversary with works by internationally acclaimed choreographers and a DBDT-grown artist.
The Director’s Choice series features the classic works of Elisa Monte, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Tommie-Waheed Evans, and a world premiere by Dallas native My’Kal Stromile. Texas Instruments is the presenting sponsor for the series.
The Jean Baptiste “Tad” Adoue, III Fund/The Dallas Foundation and The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation are the choreography sponsors. The performance takes place November 4-5, 2022, at 7:30 PM CDT in the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in the Dallas Arts District.
The Saturday performance can also be viewed in real-time via live stream and on-demand until Monday 11:59 PM CST.
Boston Ballet company member and DBDT alum My’Kal Stromile returns home to choreograph a world premiere of Baile del Corazon. Stromile created the new work to inspire movement and dance flowing from the heart. He describes the solo as a heart dance expressing all the beautiful things about dance.
Stromile was once a rapidly-rising teenage phenom at Dallas Black Dance Academy who, at age 14, earned an invitation to dance with the second company of Dallas Black Dance Theatre.
He remained a company member until he graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to graduate from The Juilliard School on a full scholarship.
DBDT dancers push themselves beyond their normal limits with surging energy while performing Pigs and Fishes. Esteemed choreographer Elisa Monte delivers her signature style in this daring, intense, passionate, and athletic dance.
Alvin Ailey first commissioned the work for his company in 1982. Considered a classic, it is an exquisite lesson in contemporary modern dance.
Darrell Grand Moultrie’s Dallas premiere of Road to One embraces the road we take to leave a legacy in our lives.
Moutrie was inspired to choreograph the high-energy ensemble to honor a mentor who introduced him to arts at a young age.
A graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School, Moultrie is one of the few choreographers working in the theater, ballet, modern, and commercial dance genres.
Tommie-Waheed Evans brings Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “We Shall Overcome” speech to life in the work Bodies as Site of Faith and Protest.
Evans first developed the work as part of his college thesis exploring how speeches from the Civil Rights Movement served as a vehicle for social change but also self-assertiveness. DBDT first premiered an excerpt from the work in 2018. The dancers sing A capella in the work, which adds depth and another layer of complexity to the performance.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Director’s Choice, November 4 – 5, 2022, 7:30 PM, Dee & Charles Wyly Theatre, 2400 Flora St., Dallas, TX
