The DIW Experience
SPRING CONCERT
2026
FABIAN BARNES BLACK BOX THEATER | MAY 30
ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER | JUNE 6
Join us as our pre-professional dancers showcase a season of growth, discipline, and artistry.
The DIW Experience offers a window into the rigorous training and dedication of our students through meticulously curated works from their technique classes. This year’s theme is a tribute to our founder, Fabian Barnes, as we honor 10 years since his passing and look ahead to DIW’s 40th anniversary.
Our theme for Spring Concert is Creole Giselle, the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s 1984 adaptation of the romantic ballet, Giselle (created in 1841). DTH’s late co-founder, Arthur Mitchell, moved the ballet’s setting from medieval Europe to an Afro-Creole community in 1840s Louisiana (POINTE Magazine, 2020). Please click here to learn more about DTH’s Creole Giselle.
Three Performances:
The First Position I – Plié I Spring Concert offers a joyful introduction to the foundational stages of dance training through an age-appropriate performance experience. Audiences can expect to see young dancers exploring the principles of balletic movement while developing coordination, balance, spatial awareness, musicality, directionality, and motor skills. Through thoughtfully crafted choreography and expressive movement, dancers demonstrate the skills and concepts cultivated throughout their training. This presentation highlights the creativity, confidence, and foundational development that supports each dancer’s early artistic journey.
The Plié II – Tendu III Spring Concert highlights an important stage in a dancer’s technical and artistic development as students expand their training across multiple dance genres and progress into a more focused and disciplined stage of their training. Audiences can expect to see performances that emphasize advancing technical development, movement quality, musicality, and performance skills. The works presented demonstrate the dancers’ growing ability to apply classroom instruction with greater accuracy, control, and confidence. This presentation highlights the students’ growing commitment to their training, their developing versatility as performers, and the continued advancement of their foundational skills.
The Relevé I – Upper Division II Spring Concert showcases dancers in the most advanced levels of their training as they refine both their technical foundation and artistic individuality. Audiences can expect to see a dynamic range of works that reflect expanded training across multiple genres, including Ballet, Modern, African, Repertoire, and pointe studies. As dancers progress through these divisions, they are challenged to deepen their technical proficiency, performance quality, musicality, and individual artistic voice while applying a more comprehensive understanding of dance theory and movement practices. The works presented in this production not only reflect the dancers’ mastery of technique and performance presence, but also the increasing complexity, discipline, versatility, and commitment required of pre-professional training.
LOCATION
MAY 30 - FABIAN BARNES BLACK BOX THEATER
3400 14th ST NW
Washington, DC 20010
JUNE 6 - ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
1333 H ST NE
Washington, DC 20002
Box Office
MAY 30 - FABIAN BARNES BLACK BOX THEATER
Early Bird until May 20th: $25.00* (Promo Code: ‘DIWEXP26’)
General Admission: $30.00*
Virtual Streaming: $20.00*
JUNE 6 - ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Early Bird until May 20th: $30.00* (Promo Code: ‘DIWEXP26’)
General Admission: $35.00*
(No streaming services)
Purchase Tickets Online or at the ATLAS Performing Arts Center Box Office.
*price excludes processing fees
