Black Creek City did not have a professional ballet company at all until 2011. For decades, the former manufacturing hub of 340,000 people sent its promising dancers to Chicago or New York and watched them never return. That began to change when a 2016 municipal arts-redevelopment initiative poured $14 million into underused downtown theaters, contingent on resident companies offering year-round programming and free education outreach. The result, eight years later, is a small but crowded dance ecosystem where three institutions—an established company, an experimental troupe, and a grassroots outreach program—are now fighting for the same dancers, donors, and stage time.
A Company Rebuilt by Demographics
When Léon Marchand became artistic director of Black Creek City Ballet in 2019, the company had two Black dancers out of twenty-four and no full-length works by choreographers of color in its repertory. This season, BCCB's roster is 46 percent dancers of color, and its March 2024 program featured the company's first commission by a Black woman, choreographer Naomi Wright.
The shift has drawn national coverage and new National Endowment for the Arts funding. It has also created tension. Longtime subscriber Patricia Voss, 71, has held season tickets since 2013 and says she supports diversity "in principle" but noticed a drop in classical programming. "Last season we got Swan Lake for two nights and three contemporary pieces I'd never heard of," Voss said. "They're searching for an audience that isn't me." BCB union representative Derek Okonkwo confirmed that contract negotiations this spring included disputes over reduced rehearsal pay for classical repertoire, though the season concluded without a work stoppage.
Marchand, for his part, argues the changes are existential. "If we were still programming Giselle four times a year, our subscription base would be declining even faster," he said. "Ballet is a universal language that should be accessible to all. At BCCB, we are redefining what a ballet company can be."
Technology on Stage—and on the Budget Sheet
Five miles north, New Ground Dance Theatre operates out of a converted textile warehouse where Aria Chen's company fuses ballet with hip-hop, modern, and motion-capture technology. Its most recent premiere, Residual Self-Image (February 2024), featured dancers in sensor suits triggering real-time lighting changes and holographic scenery projected through a proprietary system Chen developed with a local engineering collective.
Reviews were divided. Dance Magazine critic Lena Horvath called the production "genuinely uncanny, with moments where the digital and corporeal achieve real dialogue." The Black Creek City Arts Ledger was less impressed, noting that the cheapest seat was $78 and that the technology "often competed with the choreography rather than amplifying it."
Chen, a former software engineer who founded NGDT in 2021, said ticket sales covered only 62 percent of the production's $210,000 cost. The remainder came from a tech-sector donor and a municipal innovation grant. "We're not pretending this scales yet," Chen said. "But we're one of maybe five companies in the U.S. doing real-time responsive environments at this level, and we're doing it outside New York or Los Angeles."
Free Classes—and the Pipeline Problem
Dance United, founded in 2018, now serves roughly 400 students annually through free after-school workshops in four Black Creek City public schools. Alumna Sofia Martinez, 22, joined the program at age twelve and now dances with a regional company in Minneapolis; she returns each summer to teach. "Dance has the power to transform lives," Martinez said. "It's not just about pirouettes and pliés; it's about building confidence, discipline, and a sense of belonging."
The organization's success has created its own pressure. Dance United director Robert Kiyende confirmed that four of his 2023 graduating students won spots in pre-professional training programs, but none chose to stay in Black Creek City. "We have the education pipeline," Kiyende said. "We don't yet have the professional jobs to keep them here."
That gap may narrow if current projections hold. BCCB plans to add two apprentice positions next season, and NGDT hopes to expand from nine to fourteen dancers. Both companies say they are committed to hiring locally. Whether the funding and the audience growth match those ambitions remains an open question.
Written by: Amelia Hart
Published on: May 10, 2024
