Dissonance Dance Theatre Celebrates 20 Years of Breaking Barriers Through Dance
Image: DDT Promotional Image
April 10th, 2026 – Washington, DC
Through the Dark, The Light Beckons & Until Love Comes Knockin’
Ngoma Center for Dance and Dissonance Dance Theatre (DDT) proudly announce its 20th Anniversary Season, featuring two full evenings of original work by Founding Artistic Director Shawn Short and DDT Resident Choreographer Kareem B. Goodwin. The season opens with Through the Dark, The Light Beckons in October 2026 at Publick Playhouse in Cheverly, Maryland, and continues with Until Love Comes Knockin’ in March 2027 at Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, DC — DDT’s longtime former Resident Arts Partner home on H Street NE. Together, the two productions mark two decades of artistic excellence, cultural preservation, and community-centered dance-making from Washington’s only nationally recognized Black-managed contemporary ballet company.
Through the Dark, The Light Beckons is an evening of dance that moves through the full terrain of Black womanhood, ancestral spirit, everyday heroism, and Black dance’s stylish evolution. The program presents five new works, all choreographed by Shawn Short, each a distinct world unto itself — from a female solo in three movements to an Africanist athletic celebration, from an urgent response to our conflicted times to a contemporary jazz suite of sophisticated cool, and a four-part soft-shoe ballet asking whether things are really as they seem.
Until Love Comes Knockin’ arrives in March 2027 with an evening devoted entirely to love — in all its passion, tenderness, complexity, and joy. The program features seven works exploring love’s many facets, including a world premiere by DDT Resident Choreographer Kareem B. Goodwin, bringing a fresh artistic voice to the milestone season alongside Short’s signature works spanning a woman’s emotional reckoning with a relationship, an ode to Black modern dance’s intimate past, a funky Black family reunion, a poised love duet, a meditation on human interaction drawn from the Three Monkeys parable, and a disco-driven finale celebrating the pure love of moving.
“The light has always been there. DDT was built to help our artists — and our audiences — find their way to it. Twenty years in, that mission has never felt more urgent or more alive.”— Shawn Short, MFA, PGC in Business, Founding Artistic Director, Dissonance Dance Theatre
Over twenty years, DDT has built one of the most consequential artistic pipelines of any Black-led dance company on the East Coast. Alumni have gone on to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, English National Ballet, and Broadway national tours including Wicked. DDT’s choreographic development programs — Voices of Dance and the Resident Choreographer Program — have launched careers and seeded new organizations across the DC region and beyond. The 20th Anniversary Season is the fullest expression yet of what that two-decade investment in Black artistic excellence looks like on stage.
As DDT enters its third decade, we invite corporations, foundations, and individuals to join us as season sponsors. Sponsorship of the 20th Anniversary Season places your investment at the center of Washington’s most visible Black concert dance milestone of 2026–2027 — and ensures that the art, the artists, and the communities we serve continue to thrive. For sponsorship inquiries, please contact Shawn Short at sshort@ngcfddt.org or 202-540-8338.
PRODUCTION ONE
Through the Dark, The Light Beckons
October 2026 | Publick Playhouse, 5445 Landover Rd, Cheverly, MD 20784
Choreography by Shawn Short | All works are world premieres
Lady D — A female solo in three movements exploring a woman’s strength through handling internal conflicts, releasing past pain, and finding freedom.
For The Ancestors — An athletic, spirit-fueled celebration of Africanist movement fused with contemporary dance, performed to the percussive sounds of African cellist Abel Selaocoe.
Heroism Is Walking — A response to our conflicted times, this urgent work invokes the hero within as bodies blur with speed to Bryce Dessner’s climactic score.
October London Suite — A three-part contemporary jazz work bringing sophisticated cool and head-bopping grooves to the stage, set to the smooth sounds of “21st Century Marvin Gaye”, October London.
Ashes on the Door of Promise — A love letter to a world filled with pain — a four-part contemporary soft-shoe ballet asking the question: “Are things really the way they seem to be?”
PRODUCTION TWO
Until Love Comes Knockin’
March 2027 | Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002
Choreography by Shawn Short, with world premiere by Kareem B. Goodwin
Sweet Passion — A woman trapped in a relationship faces a life decision, riding the emotional roller coaster of love, societal acceptance, and security.
To Joshua With Love — An ode to the Black modern dance days of old, celebrating musical expression and intimate tenderness.
Breeze — Inspired by the love of friends and family at a Black family reunion — a funky and free work with jazz accompaniment.
New Work — DDT Resident Choreographer Kareem B. Goodwin — A world premiere created by Dissonance Dance Theatre’s Resident Choreographer, bringing a fresh artistic voice to the evening.
Beauty Only Knocks Once — A subtle, poised love duet capturing the precious connection of two young people savoring their fleeting time together.
Time Passes — Inspired by the tale of the Three Monkeys — hear, speak, see no evil — this work examines the complexities of human interaction and turning away from love.
Love Is My Game — A disco-driven celebration of dance as emotional release, grooving to the beat of its own drum and honoring the pure love of moving.
WITH GRATITUDE
DDT’s 20th Anniversary Season is made possible with support from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, the Maryland State Arts Council, and our generous community of individual donors who have championed this organization since its founding. Your investment in Dissonance Dance Theatre is an investment in Black artistic excellence, in the next generation of dance professionals, and in the cultural fabric of Washington, DC and the nation.
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Ngoma Center for Dance is the home of Dissonance Dance Theatre (founded in 2007) and its award-winning programs based in the Washington, DC area. DDT is named “one of the 11 small-but-mighty dance companies outside of LA and NYC” by Dance Spirit Magazine. Evoking emotional experiences in the audiences we touch, is the only East Coast, nationally recognized, Black-managed contemporary ballet company between NYC and ATL. For more information, visit www.ngcfddt.org