Black Dance is Beautiful Festival

A free public performance will be followed by a brief question and answer audience session. The festival would take place on Saturday, November 21st of 2015, with a residency of one week prior, culminating in the free public performance to be held at Walnut Hills High School at 7 p.m.

The festival will include four dance companies: two from Cincinnati, one from Columbus and one from Cleveland. The two local organizations are the group Studio Kre8v of local hip hop Elementz, an urban youth association who have performed with the Cincinnati Symphony, and Bi-Okoto Drum and Dance Theatre, a professional performance company, specializing in African dance.  The Berry and Nance Dance Project are an all male black dance company and The Greene Works Project specializes in modern, jazz and ballet.

“Black Dance is Beautiful” will create a rare opportunity for students to explore black dance, from authentic jazz to hip hop and will experience firsthand the rhythms, dynamics, character and creative expression of a wide range variety of dance forms.

Black Dance Is Beautiful is a cultural event designed to show diversity in dance in Cincinnati, and toward that goal, present an array of regional black companies among its global offerings.  While the festival will celebrate black dancers and black choreographers, the genre itself, has in many ways transcended boundaries of race and culture, heavily influencing all areas of dance and amassing universal audience appeal.

BDIB will provide not only a free public performance, but also master classes, school residencies and neighborhood outreach and participation.  This project is deeply committed to educating the Cincinnati community about the beauty and absence of black dancers from the mainstream arts conversation.