Washington Reflections Dance Company (WRDC) is a contemporary ballet and modern dance ensemble that strengthens both local and national dance communities by broadening the cultural dialogue and promoting the voice of the inner city. Its dance performances add a uniquely African American voice to the nation’s rich cultural landscape. Please click here to see a WRDC performance.

WRDC’s objectives:

• To create new dance works;
• To reinterpret classic dance works from a wide pool of choreographic voices;
• To offer multimedia, multicultural and multigenerational dance performances that represent the diverse national experience.

In 2002, Fabian Barnes launched Washington Reflections Dance Company to provide talented dancers and choreographers opportunities to work in a professional arena. The presence of a professional company at DIW encourages young students in the studio school to study and work hard. They see that careers in dance are within reach. Several of the WRDC members are former DIW students who, without having the professional company available to them, probably would have left DC to pursue their dance careers. Since its inception, the ensemble-sized company has impressed audiences and critics alike with its athletic and passionate contemporary ballet and modern dance performances.

The company’s inaugural 2003 season featured a passionate performance of Remembering U, a tribute to the vibrant cultural heritage of U Street as Black Broadway, at the historic Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC. That summer, Reflections performed at Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods in Vienna, VA. In 2004, the emerging company brought strength and eloquence to works by choreographers Hinton Battle, Thaddeus Davis, and Ray Tadio at the Theatre at Riverside Church in NYC. The following year, Reflections made its first international appearance in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, through funding from the U.S. Department of State; participated in celebrating the 100th anniversary of Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Washington, DC; and performed at Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts.

In October 2005, the Washington Performing Arts Society commissioned Fabian Barnes, in collaboration with associate artistic director Dean Anderson and Reflections senior dancer Derrick Spear, to choreograph a new work for the company, “Dance Forever,” which premiered at the Lincoln Theatre. As part of the commission, Reflections gave lectures/demonstrations at four Arlington County, VA schools, previewed the work at the John F. Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, and held a question & answer session after the performance. In 2006, Reflections performed for the Congressional Black Caucus at the Heritage Day celebration held at the Lincoln Theatre; the company also performed at Dance Place and Cramton Auditorium among other venues.

Starting in 2006, Reflections held fall and spring concerts at the GALA Hispanic Theatre. Annually, Reflections performs in DIW’s Spirit of Kwanzaa celebration. The company’s concert season includes local and regional performances as well as some touring. In addition, each year Reflections performs a spring concert for the DC community and gives lectures/demonstrations to the youth in DIW’s education outreach program. WRDC’s artistic collaborations include working with the Ludacris Foundation, the Washington Performing Arts Society, and the Ballet Clásico Nacional Dominicano.

During Reflections’ 2008-2009 concert season, the company, under the direction of Fabian Barnes and Rehearsal Director Ralph Glenmore, a former principal dancer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, performed two well-attended concerts for the DC community: a spring concert at Bell Multicultural Senior H S, along with DIW students, and a free in-studio concert at DIW. The community expressed its enjoyment of the company and participated in post-performance discussions, which resulted in individuals asking questions about the choreographic process of dance and about DIW’s upcoming youth and adult classes.