Resident Choreographer Program
Sustained, multi-year investment in choreographic artists. Studio space at Atlas, direct access to DDT's professional company, and the kind of mentorship that produces transformative results — not only for the artist, but for the dancers, students, and communities their work reaches.
Atlas Performing Arts Center — DDT's professional rehearsal home.
Direct access to professional company members to develop and refine new works.
Technical and production resources to realize work at performance scale.
Premiere opportunities as part of DDT's main stage season.
Professional marketing support and full documentation of created works.
Direct, ongoing mentorship from DDT Founding Director Shawn Short, MFA.
One year of sustained Ngoma investment in Kareem produced commissions, faculty appointments, awards, and a national choreographic presence — demonstrating what the Resident Choreographer Program delivers beyond Ngoma's own walls.
- Adjunct Professor — Drexel University, Westphal College of Media Arts & Design (Philadelphia)
- Artistic Director — The Pointe! Dance Studio (appointed August 15, 2025)
- Faculty Affiliate — DeSales University (Center Valley, PA; from December 2025)
- Building the Beat — Commissioned by Richard A. Freeman Jr., Dallas Black Dance Theatre. World premiere May 2025, Dallas, TX
- New Work for Textures Dance Theatre — Commissioned by Marcus Isaiah. Premiere October 2025, Publick Playhouse (MD)
- Combined Work for Atlanta Dance Connection — Commissioned by Allyne D. Gartrell. Premiere at IABD Conference 2026
- Choreographer, Drexel Dance Ensemble — Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)
- Princess Grace Award nominee in Choreography (NYC)
- Ellen Forman Memorial Award recipient (Philadelphia)
- American College Dance Association 2026 Festival — Choreographer, national festival selection
- Choreographic Resident — MOVE NYC DC Experience (Washington, DC; July 2025)
- Jazz at Lincoln Center · New York, NY
- The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts · Washington, DC
- Atlas Performing Arts Center · Washington, DC
- Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet
- Nashville Ballet
- Abraham.In.Motion (A.I.M.)
- Dance Theatre of Harlem
DDT is DC's only nationally recognized Black-managed contemporary ballet company between New York City and Atlanta. The Resident Choreographer Program is central to that distinction.
New Voices of Dance
Founded in the Summer of 2016 by Shawn Short, New Voices of Dance (NVD) is DDT's guest choreographer program — built to increase the number of working choreographers in contemporary ballet and modern dance.
NVD's goal is to support choreographers who are emerging — not aspiring — and currently working in their cities of artistic employment.
Selected choreographers must be emerging artists. Selectees cannot have prior choreographic experience with a major dance, theatre, or production company.
DDT's contemporary voice feeds on diversity. We look for choreographers who build from a solid classical ballet core, through a contemporary dance style — artists who see their works as contributions to a new concert dance language that reflects the 21st Century.
- Travel fare to and from the choreographer's home city.
- An honorarium for choreographic work rendered.
- HD-quality MP4 of the produced work for professional reels.
- Set work on Dissonance Dance Theatre — DDT's professional company.
- Direct guidance from DDT Founder & Principal Choreographer Shawn Short.
Set Work on DDT
All choreographer applications begin with the Guest Choreographer Questionnaire. Choreographers interested in the Resident Program complete the same form — Resident selection requires completion of three choreographic works for DDT.
- 5-minute reel
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- Headshot
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- Resume
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- Bio
Resident consideration requires three completed choreographic works for DDT.
Support the artists who shape our community.
The DDT Resident Choreographer Program and New Voices of Dance are made possible through the generosity of individuals and institutions who believe in the transformative power of the arts. Your investment sustains the mentorship, resources, and performance opportunities that allow exceptional dance artists to grow — and ensures the next generation of Washington, DC dancers learns from leaders at the forefront of the field.
Ngoma Center for Dance is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.