Howard University Dance Program Marks a Year of Artistic Excellence, Collaboration, and National Visibility

By Chad Eric Smith, Director of Marketing and Communications, Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts

The Howard University Dance Program, housed within the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, has experienced an extraordinary year marked by artistic excellence, innovation, scholarly inquiry, interdisciplinary collaboration, and deep community engagement.

The academic year began with the successful Complexions Academy Summer Intensive, hosted in partnership with the HU Dance Program. The company’s inaugural Washington, D.C. intensive culminated in an informal showcase on the Ira Aldridge Theatre stage, expanding advanced training opportunities for the DMV community while creating meaningful work-study experiences for Howard students.

Building on this momentum, the Program piloted the integration of the Complexions Contemporary Ballet NIQUE into its ballet curriculum, modernizing classical training through a contemporary, performance-based model. Under the leadership of Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Dance, Larissa Joseph, a former company member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and with the support of Complexions' Artistic Directors, dance program students engaged in ongoing research contributing to the codification of this technique.

Throughout the fall semester, students participated in a robust range of professional and experiential learning opportunities, including volunteer service at the Kankouran West African Dance & Drum Festival and masterclasses with distinguished artistic leaders Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden, along with guest artists Jamel Gaines and Rayan Lecurieux-Durival.

 

The Program also received and screened archival footage donated by the internationally acclaimed Garth Fagan Dance, provided by Executive Director and former principal dancer Natalie Rogers-Cropper. Student artistry was further showcased in the Junior Choreography Showcase: Chromatic Truths, presented for the final time in the Ira Aldridge Theatre prior to its upcoming renovation.

 

The spring semester expanded this trajectory through creative residencies, auditions, performances, and national engagement. Highlights included a senior capstone creation process with former Alvin Ailey company member Michael Jackson Jr.; exclusive auditions with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater; and admission opportunities for the HU Dance Program offered at the International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference and the Black Artist Dance Collective College-Prep Week in Atlanta.

The “African Dance Performance Workshop” course contributed a celebratory work by Professor Konte Assane, with live musical accompaniment by Roy Horton, Ali Rahman, and Professor Amadou Kouyate, in honor of the Dr. Jeanne C. Sinkford Legacy Memorial. Students also trained with Solomon Dumas of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and attended the Alvin Ailey Gala D.C.

 

A significant area of growth this year has been interdisciplinary collaboration, particularly through partnerships with the Department of Music. With support from Chair Carroll Dashiell Jr. and Coordinator Robyn Ambrose, as well as faculty Dr. Natalia Kazaryan, Professor Katherine Young, and Professor Amadou Kouyate, the Dance Program integrated live musicianship into classroom practice.

Piano performance majors and percussion students collaborated directly with dancers, strengthening skills in accompaniment, improvisation, and live performance exchange. Additional experiential learning included field visits through the Methods of Teaching Dance course at the Dance Institute of Washington with the Jones-Haywood Dance School and Elizabeth Seton High School.

The Program also participated in an interdisciplinary workshop led by Dr. Mesi Bakari-Walton of World Languages and Cultures and Master Instructor Adriana Sofía Mena Obregón, a former member of El Colegio del Cuerpo Dance Company in Colombia, exploring embodied practices across African and Latin American diasporas.

 

In collaboration with Professor Angela Ingram’s Afro-Cuba-centered direction of advanced modern courses, this work also served as a foundation for the Spring Break study abroad experience through COAS 890: Afro-Colombian Society: Past and Present, with field study in Cartagena, Palenque de San Basilio, and Medellín.

Howard dancers were also represented on prominent national and public stages. Highlights included alumna Kamilah Thurmon’s film premiere, Making Their Pointe, at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which honored the legacy of D.C. ballet icons, including faculty member Professor Sandra Fortune-Green.

 

The Senior Showcase capstone presentations were hosted at Atlas Performing Arts Center (Washington, DC) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Manhattan, NY), where the Department of Theatre Arts senior cohort performed original works for invited industry guests. Sophomore dance major Jada Hawkins presented her work Split at Dance Place’s District Choreographers’ Dance Festival, and graduating senior dance major Paige Piper presented her capstone work, Sink or Swim, at the 54th Owen Dodson Awards Ceremony.

Excerpt from Paris Calvert's (Senior dance major) capstone work, entitled "Good, How are you?", which premiered at Atlas Performing Arts Center in the spring of 2026.

The year concludes with continued celebration at Commencement, where junior dance major and Chadwick A. Boseman Scholarship recipient Morgan Williams will present an excerpt of her original work, Fortitude, during the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts Recognition Ceremony.

“Collectively, these accomplishments reflect a year of exceptional growth in artistic training, interdisciplinary collaboration, cultural engagement, and national visibility for the Howard University Dance Program.” — Larissa Joseph, Coordinator of Dance