A Show of Creative Spirit

Photograph by Salena Zellers

Fabian Barnes, founder and artistic director of the Dance Institute of Washington, knew he wanted something “outside the standard Nutcracker” when he set out to do a holiday production 10 years ago.

Thus was born The Spirit of Kwanzaa, a multimedia show that depicts the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

Mr. Barnes says the production, which has become one of the largest such celebrations in the country, highlights “community and connectiveness, both in the African-American community and beyond.”

The annual year-end event, now held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, typically draws sellout crowds to watch dancers from the dance institute’s junior and senior repertory companies (some as young as 6 years old) and from its professional company, called Washington Reflections, together with guest artists from Washington and elsewhere.

Throughout the year, several hundred youngsters receive training in ballet and modern and jazz dance at the institute. The organization also runs a free summer arts camp for inner-city youths, and conducts literacy programs in two local elementary schools, using dance and movement to help pupils visualize the stories they are reading.

“If we can get these kids more engaged in literacy and the arts, we can help them become successful citizens, using dance as a vehicle,” says Ramien R. Pierre, the institute’s executive director.

Support from individual, corporate, and foundation donors accounts for about three-quarters of the dance institute’s $850,000 annual budget. The organization recently announced a $3.8-million campaign to raise money to build its own dance studio in the city’s Columbia Heights neighborhood.

Here, young dancers perform The Spirit of Kwanzaa.