WHO'S WHO IN PHILADANCO? JOAN MYERS BROWN, DFA, DHL, DA (Founder), the Visionary Founder of the International Conference of Black Dance Companies in 1988, is also the founder and honorary chairwoman for the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) an organization she established in 1991. In 2013, she received the prestigious National Medal of Arts Award from President Barak Obama and in 2023 President Joe Biden presented Brown, who was representing (IABD) with the National Medal of Arts, making Brown the first American to receive two National Medal of Arts awards, from two different sitting Presidents. Brown’s global recognition includes the Ambassador’s Award for Cultural Diplomacy from the American Embassy in Skopje, Macedonia and awarded the MENADA Award for Exceptional Achievements in the field of dance, by Dance Fest Skopje, the first American to receive such an honor. In 2024, Brown received the Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently, Brown was honored by the Kimmel Center and the Philadelphia Orchestra, at the prestigious 2025 ‘Great Stages Gala’ for her vision and leadership that made a transformative impact on Philadelphia’s arts and culture community.
Choreographers THANG DAO (Without Witness) is an award-winning choreographer whose work explores movement as language, memory, and embodied resistance. His choreography has been commissioned and presented by leading dance companies and institutions across the United States, Europe, and Asia, including Ballet Austin, Ailey II, Philadanco, BalletX, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Sacramento Ballet, and Jacob’s Pillow. Dao’s work is known for its physical rigor, musical sensitivity, and philosophical depth, often examining how bodies navigate systems of power, identity, and belonging. A Princess Grace Fellow and Vilcek Award finalist, he is also a dedicated educator who has taught internationally at universities and conservatories, including University of Arizona, Kennesaw State University, Troy University, Rutgers University. Through dance, Dao seeks to create spaces where movement becomes a site of listening, awakening, and quiet transformation. RENNIE HARRIS ('To Philly...Love, Rennie') is a leading ambassador for Hip-hop. Harris grew up entrenched in Hip-hop culture and was immersed in all its forms — music, dance, language. Throughout his career, he has embraced the culture and sought to honor its legacy. He believes Hip-hop and Street Dance is the purest form of movement in that it honors both its heritage from African and African American-Latino culture. His life has been devoted to bringing Hip-hop and Street dance to all people. Harris’s artistic philosophy reflects a deeper understanding of people that extends beyond racial, religious, and economic boundaries. He believes that Hiphop, because of its cross-racial and transnational popularity, can help bridge these divisions. Harris’s work encompasses the diverse and rich traditions of the past, while simultaneously presenting the voice of a new generation through its ever-evolving interpretations of dance. Harris has been awarded three Bessie Awards, four Alvin Ailey Black Choreographers Award for Rome & Jewels, a Guggenheim Fellowship, PEW Fellowship, USA Artist of the Year Fellowship as well as the coveted “Philadelphia Rocky” Award, and Governor’s Artist of the year to name just a few. Harris received an honorary doctorate from Bates College and Columbia College. The first choreographer (street dancer) to set a sixty-minute work on Alvin American Dance Theater Harris received a Dance Magazine's Legend Award, Palm Desert Festivals LifeTime Achievement Award and is the recent recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award. TOMMIE-WAHEED EVANS (Co-Artistic Director/ Promise me You Won't Call), a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, is a dance maker from Los Angeles. He trained with Karen McDonald, earned a fellowship at The Ailey School, and received an MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University. A former company member of Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and PHILADANCO, he has choreographed over 50 works for companies including BalletX, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, PHILADANCO, and Louisville Ballet. As the founder of Waheedworks, he created bold, gospel-infused contemporary works