While surfing the streaming services during the pandemic, I stumbled across a documentary titled “Black Art: In the Absence of Light.” It focused on the lack of representation of Black artists in the art world historically, while showcasing some of the up-and-coming Black visual artists.
While the focus was on two-dimensional art forms, the lack of representation is true for other art forms as well. One art form in particular, classical dance, has particularly underrepresented Black and brown performers.
Even with the Ailey School and Dance Theatre of Harlem—both established in 1969—bringing inclusivity to classical dance, there continues to be a noticeable absence of Black dancers, even locally. However, one Cincinnatian has created a space where Black youth and young adults can not only experience the world of dance but also visualize themselves as a part of that world.
David Choate founded the Revolution Dance Theatre in 2017 to create professional and dance opportunities for African Americans. With its goal of inclusion, it is designed to challenge perceptions about traditional ballet as well as perceptions around Blackness. The sole African American Dance company in residence at The Aronoff Center for the Arts in Cincinnati, it premiered the region’s only professional Black Nutcracker experience: “Hot Chocolate,” in 2021.
To date, Revolution Dance Theatre has employed eight African American artists, performed seven concert experiences and even published a children’s book: “I Dream of Me: Lessons on Becoming a Butterfly.”
Driven by the vision of equitable change, Revolution Dance also produces new music, podcasts and unique class experiences—all with the goal of helping African Americans see themselves in non-traditional settings and recognize possibilities for themselves as creative individuals.
The Buckeye Flame had the opportunity to talk with David about his experiences as a queer Black performer, producer and entrepreneur.
How long have you been a dancer?
David Choate: I got into it fairly late. I was a high school senior when I took my first ballet class at the School for The Creative and Performing Arts (SPCA, in Cincinnati). I discovered I enjoyed it and was encouraged to do it more from there. I kept up with it in some form after high school, training at the Dance Academy with the Cincinnati Ballet. I got a gig with the Dayton Contemporary Company and then toured with an African drum and dance theater, and started doing my own thing from there.
What prompted the creation of Revolution Dance Theatre?
It’s been a long process. As a child, I was toying with other worlds, primarily in my head. I would make up stories and write plays. I would host talk shows in middle school. At the time, I wouldn’t have called it art, dance or theater—it was just “using my imagination.” I was involved with the church and started to do productions there using songs and choreography from shows I produced at SCPA, like “Pippin” and “Ragtime.” I took songs from “Wicked” and “Little Shop of Horrors” and wrote church plays that the church allowed me to do, and they became popular and well-attended.
The church became my playground in being able to produce experiences and perform in front of a live audience. However, due to church doctrine and my vision and the resulting conflict, I knew I wanted to expand beyond the confines of church rules and community theater production levels. I wanted Black Excellence. Since I already had the experience of stage management, lighting and writing through my time at the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, I set my sights on producing my own theater experiences with that same level of production centering on Blackness, the Black experience and Black people. Because I wanted to create change—and after a process of elimination—we chose Revolution Dance Theatre as the official incorporated name. While it’s not a religious organization, it is birthed out of my church experience.
A lot of your work centers around Blackness. Has it or will it incorporate queerness into the works performed?
It has. In our very first season, we were intentional about including queerness in our body of work. Our inaugural season in 2019/2020 was titled: “Our Turn.” It celebrated our residency at the Aronoff as our coming out. The next show we produced was called “Shout,” which was centered around being black and gay in the church, using dance to tell that story. Unfortunately, the pandemic shut everything down. However, I was able to use that time to continue to collect stories and was able to produce a docuseries titled “Unspoken.”
Do you view this as being your activism?
I think I do now. The thing that sparked the idea of doing something in ballet was when I discovered and learned about the story of Arthur Mitchell, who was the founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem. He started the company in response to Martin Luther King’s assassination. Up until them, I had not heard of him or other Black dancers that created their own companies. I wanted to bring not just the knowledge but also create experiences and opportunity to a new generation of Black youth to empower them as dancers as well as learning the business side of creating. 🔥
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