Ngoma Center for Dance Annual Report 2019

2019 Annual Report

Ngoma Center for Dance

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Year of Capacity - Letter Pg 1 Dissonance Dance Theatre Pg 2 IABD 2019 Pg 4 Black Dance Festival DMV Pg 5 Press Pg 6 Education Pg 8 Finances Pg 11

Ngoma Center for Dance P.O. Box 2377 Washington, DC 20013 info@ngcfddt.org 202-540-8338 (o) 202-399-0174 (f) www.ngcfddt.org

Year of Increased Capacity

2019 saw its beginning filled with a government shutdown that crippled the DC area’s economy. Additionally, Washington D.C. saw the closing of several Black-led dance organizations. However, great change provides an opportunity for new innovation. Through new strategic gains, artistically and administratively, Ngoma Center for Dance produced Dissonance Dance Theatre’s 12th theatrical season, provided a full year of dance education to underserved and local communities, and launched our new program, Black Dance Festival DMV; producing more opportunities for our artists, students, and communities.

Humbly receiving funding from DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, Prince George’s County’s Arts & Heritage Division, CarMax Foundation, Facebook patrons, and Amazon’s Smile program Ngoma Center for Dance increased its development capacity for future relationships with funders - increasing individual donations and board giving; we cultivated new relationships gaining new board members.

Ngoma Center for Dance continues to strengthen its visibility as a host institution for dance education, entertainment, and enlightenment. First, Dissonance Dance Theatre is featured in Modern Luxury Magazine (December issue). Also, Ngoma Center for Dance participated in the International Association of Blacks In Dance’s 2019 annual conference to provide scholarships (full and partial) and apprenticeships to talented African-American dancers - both opportunities furthered our mission of impacting lives through dance.

I encourage you to read on and explore what we accomplished together on the pages to follow.

Warm Regards,

Shawn Short, MFA Founding Producing Artistic Director Principal Choreographer Annual Report ‘19 - Ngoma Center for Dance

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Dissonance Dance Theatre Image: Phillip Fobbs, Christine Motta (c) Shawn Short

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Ngoma Center for Dance - Annual Report ‘19

Dissonance Dance Theatre (DDT) celebrates its 12th season. DDT presented a full season of five productions, and performed in New York City and in the Washington D.C. area.

DDT continues to provide a home for contemporary exploration of classical ballet and modern dance styles. In addition, we continue to be a space for emerging dance artists locally, nationally and internationally.

DDT presented production performances in Washington DC, Baltimore and College Park, MD. 2019 Season Rewind 2 Fast Forward Proscenium Theatre @UMBC Feb 10th, 2019 Fluid Lab - Atlas PAC - Washington, D.C. March 2nd, 2019 Fall Forward 2019 Dance Theater - The Clarice - College Park, MD October 26th, 2019

4 New Major Works

Annual Report ‘19 - Ngoma Center for Dance

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In The Community

J. Potts & A. Spivey adjudicating.

IABD 2019 Dissonance Dance Theatre, in its second year, joined over 20 major dance companies to audition eager young black male and female dancers at the International Association of Blacks in Dance’s Men of Color audition. More than 30 male dancers participated with DDT providing apprentice and trainee contracts.

Additionally, The Ngoma School - the official school of DDT - provided 60 partial scholarships to more than 200 summer programming auditionees.

W. Feldon (c) Shawn Short William Feldon of California, became Dissonance Dance Theatre’s first apprentice received from the International Association of Blacks in Dance’s annual conference and auditions. The auditions provide scholarships, trainee and apprenticeship positions for budding dance talent.

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Male dancers at IABD Audition.

Ngoma Center for Dance - Annual Report ‘19

Black Dance Festival DMV In 2017, there were conversations amongst the dance community in regards to the lack of Black dancer opportunities. This was a reason that prompted diversity training sessions during DC Dance Summit 2017, to begin addressing race within the community.

Founded in 2019 as a new programming initiative of Ngoma Center for Dance, Black Dance Festival: DMV brings a platform for African-American directors, choreographers, and dancers to perform, share, and celebrate their work and add to Washington, DC’s creative economy.

In 2019, Ngoma Center for Dance Founding Director Shawn Short wanted to take an active approach to address the lack of diversity, while still creating an opportunity for supporters of Black dance artists; expanding the public’s exposure to the work of African-American dance artists in the DC area.

The pilot program garnered artists from Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. Initial supporting organizations include: Washington Ballet @THEARC, Joy Of Motion Dance Center, and Univ of MD College Park’s School of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies; providing masterclasses and three weekends of performances

Annual Report ‘19 - Ngoma Center for Dance

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In The Press Pg 6

Modern Luxury DC Modern Luxury Magazine (Washington, DC), provided Dissonance Dance Theatre with a wonderful feature in their December issue!

The feature covered Ngoma’s board Vice Chairperson Tyler Lewis, and DDT Soloist Emma Button as they spoke warmly about their experiences with Ngoma Center for Dance and its programs.

Ngoma Center for Dance - Annual Report ‘19

Annual Report ‘19 - Ngoma Center for Dance

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Education Image: Ngoma Students performing at Black Dance Festival DMV performance (c) Shawn Short

70% # of students receiving financial assistance.

155

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Keeping Dance Affordable

10% of program participants are male.

Children and young people served through education programs.

Ngoma Center for Dance - Annual Report ‘19

In 2019, The Ngoma School redeveloped its tuition price points to create new opportunities for families with a need for a more flexible tuition plan.

The Ngoma School now has two school-year programs: The Academy (pre-professional), and Early Steps (community/early entry). The programs feed into one another and give parents more options for dance education.

Providing Opportunity

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Creating Artistic Citizens In 2014, Ngoma began to offer its education programs with more consistently. At the time, most offerings were just Dissonance Dance Theatre’s Trainee program, master classes, and one-time workshops.

In 2017, Ngoma Center for Dance launched its second phase of education program, The Ngoma School; serving students annually through our fall, winter/spring, summer and community outreach efforts.

The Ngoma School is emerging as P.G. County’s flagship dance school for students interested in a professional concert dance career. We provide pre-professional dance training that informs and encourages the pursuit of a post-secondary education, healthy living, mentorship, self-care, and life skill mastery.

Currently serving students as young as 5 years old and as old as 24 years old, who received a late start to their professional dance training. Dance classes, workshops, masterclasses, and auditions are facilitated at Univ of Maryland College Park.

We offer levels I - 3, a summer, men’s, and trainee program.

East of the River (EOR) Program Due to limited space to conduct dance programming at Ngoma’s EOR space in northeast Washington, DC, Ngoma Center for Dance launched a reduced-tuition program for students living in Ward 7 & 8. Currently, five percent of level I students participate in the program.

Right Image: Ngoma Students in classes All images (c) Shawn Short Annual Report ‘19 - Ngoma Center for Dance

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Image: Above: Jazmine C. Rutherford, Moyston Henry Jr (c) Shawn Short

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Ngoma Center for Dance - Annual Report ‘19

Finances 2019 Expenses

Artistic Staffing Facilities Production General Operations: Total Expenses

Income

Individual Contributions: Foundations Funding - DC Gov Funding - PG Gov Ticket Sales Tuition - The Ngoma School Special Events/Workshops Board Contributions Total Income

$46,767.00 $45,297.00 $36,368.00 $59,308.00 $187,740.00 $2,849.00 $2,000.00 $69,725.00 $2,725.00 $5,567.00 $76,448.00 $11,177.00 $22,263.00 $192,754.00

Ngoma invested in executive education to assist management with creating revenue streams and donor cultivation. These strategies improved financial results across the organization. Revenue from The Ngoma School increased, stabilizing operations and artistic programming.

We increased artistic and educational staff to better streamline DDT rehearsals, productions, and the Ngoma School’s day-flow. Furthermore, dance artists increased income opportunities by partaking in Ngoma’s teacher trainings for gaining teaching artist positions - enriching Ngoma’s educational offerings to students in the school and community/outreach programs.

Ngoma Center for Dance, again, humbly received more than $400k in gift-in-kind services. We like to thank also DC Commission on Arts & Humanities, Carmax Foundation, and P.G. County Arts & Cultural Heritage Division for their continuous, generous support.

Annual Report ‘19 - Ngoma Center for Dance

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Founding Director/CEO Shawn Short, MFA Technical Director Chris Holland Interns Allison Eguchi Phillip Fobbs Moyston Henry Jr Christine Motta Jessica Potts Anthony Spivey Jeremiah Welch

Board of Trustees Chairman Dave Domzalski, BS Vice Chairman Tyler Lewis, BA President Shawn Short, MFA Treasurer Anthony Spivey, BS Secretary Jessica Potts, MA Member Dr. Benjamin A. Dukes, Ph.D, , RDT, RYT Member Anthony Hyman, M.ed Member Tony Thomas, BS Member Quoc Tran, MBA

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Ngoma Center for Dance - Annual Report ‘19

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Ngoma Center for Dance - Annual Report ‘19 Center for Dance (c) 2020 Ngoma