The Indy Black Dance Festival launched its inaugural season this month with Neon Black, a 90-minute performance that marks the first major platform for Black contemporary dance in Indianapolis in over a decade. The debut, held September 14–16 at the Madam Walker Legacy Center, drew approximately 450 attendees across three sold-out shows.
A New Chapter for Indianapolis Dance
Founded in 2023 as a nonprofit organization, the festival arrives at a moment when local critics and arts administrators have noted the limited institutional support for Black choreographers in central Indiana. Artistic director Kamau Shakur, formerly of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, conceived Neon Black as both a showcase and a statement.
"We're not asking for space anymore," Shakur told the audience during a post-show talkback. "We're building the room ourselves."
The Performance: Technique Meets Technology
Neon Black unites seven dancers from Chicago, Atlanta, and Indianapolis in a work that layers hip-hop footwork, contemporary floorwork, and West African gestural vocabulary. Choreographer Aaliyah Williams, whose credits include ensemble work with Camille A. Brown & Dancers, structured the piece around three generations of a family's migration narrative—from the American South to the industrial Midwest to an imagined digital future.
The electronic score, composed by Detroit-based producer and percussionist Malik Ndiaye, anchors these temporal shifts. Ndiaye's original music combines Detroit techno's mechanistic pulse with live djembe and sampled field recordings of Midwestern train yards. During the second movement, "Layover," the beat drops out entirely, leaving only Ndiaye's processed vocals and the dancers' synchronized breath.
Production designer Tasha Okonkwo created UV-reactive costumes that shifted from electric blue to phosphorescent green under alternating light states, visualizing the work's central tension between organic movement and technological mediation.
Audience and Critical Response
The closing sequence—a ten-minute unison section performed under strobe to Ndiaye's most aggressive track—drew a sustained standing ovation on opening night.
"I've been teaching dance in Indianapolis for fourteen years," said audience member Denise Crawford, director of the Butler University Community Arts School. "This is the most technically ambitious work I've seen here, full stop. The precision of that unison, with seven bodies moving as one organism—I've never witnessed that in this city."
Other attendees emphasized the work's emotional accessibility. Marcus Chen, who attended the Saturday matinee with his teenage daughter, noted: "I don't know anything about dance, but I recognized my grandmother's story in that second movement. The way they used the shoulders, the way they held the spine—that was her generation."
Building Infrastructure, Not Just Performances
The festival's mission extends beyond single productions. Shakur has established partnerships with Indianapolis Public Schools to provide free master classes, and a choreographer residency program will host its first fellow in January 2025. The organization is also documenting oral histories from elder Black dancers who performed in Indianapolis during the 1970s and 1980s, when the city supported a more robust network of Black arts institutions.
"We're not interested in being a one-time sensation," said board chair Imani Okafor, a former dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. "Kamau and I both came up in systems where we had to leave the Midwest to find training and performance opportunities at this level. We're asking: what changes if that infrastructure exists here?"
Looking Ahead
The festival has announced plans for a spring 2025 showcase featuring works by three emerging Midwest-based choreographers, with applications opening October 1. Shakur also indicated that Neon Black will tour to Detroit and Chicago in early 2025, with negotiations underway for a Columbus, Ohio, date.
Tickets for the spring showcase will be available through the festival's website. The organization operates on a pay-what-you-can model for all performances, with a suggested donation of $25.
About the Indy Black Dance Festival
The Indy Black Dance Festival is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Black dancers and choreographers in the Midwest. Founded in 2023, the festival provides performance platforms, educational programming, and professional development resources.
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