Originally posted on Feb 9, 2017.

In the mid-late 1960’s, the DC Black Repertory Dance Company (Not to be mistaken with the DC Black Repertory Company) gained international acclaim and local fame under the direction of Louis Johnson and Mike Malone. Throughout the next decade (1970’s), the DC Black Repertory Dance Company would continue to marvel audiences as they toured the globe.  The company would perform at the Colony Theater on Georgia Ave NW.

Johnson and Malone cultivated a platform that launched dance careers to the likes of The Apollo Theatre in Harlem, N.Y., and to many countries abroad including London, England. Blazing success from the DC Black Repertory Dance Company prompted Malone and Johnson to continue stamping their unique signatures on the world of dance education and performance.

In 1974, Mike Malone co-founded the first performing arts high school in Washington, DC., know as the Duke Ellington High School of the Performing Arts. However, Louis Johnson “eased on down the road” to choreograph The Wiz and establish a dance company of his entitled the Louis Johnson Dance Company.