BLACK WARRIOR DANCE
INITIAL FUNDING CAMPAIGN
EVERY GREAT ORGANIZATION BEGINS WITH A STORY.
Black Warrior Dance was founded by choreographer, educator, and creative director Daryl L. Foster, a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The city of Tuscaloosa takes its name from the legendary leader Tuskaloosa, whose name is commonly translated as “Black Warrior.”
According to Creek history and oral tradition, Tuskaloosa was a towering leader whose courage became legendary as he defended his people and the lands of West Alabama during the Spanish incursions of the 16th century. His strength, resilience, and unwavering leadership secured his place in history.
Daryl Foster was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, not far from the Black Warrior River, which also bears the name of this remarkable leader.
In honoring that legacy, Black Warrior Dance embraces the spirit of courage, resilience, and purpose.
Our name is a tribute to our founder's roots and a constant reminder that art has the power to challenge, uplift, and transform communities.
Today, Black Warrior Dance carries that spirit forward through bold artistic experiences that inspire dialogue, celebrate culture, develop artists, and empower the next generation of creative leaders.
We are not simply building performances.
We are building an organization.
We are building community.
We are building opportunity.
We are Building the Black Warrior.
THE WORK IS ALREADY BEGINNING.
Our inaugural season is already in the planning and production stage.
In 2027, Black Warrior Dance will bring together dancers, choreographers, musicians, educators, community members, and other creatives to create, develop, challenge, and present new work.
This first season will expand the work of LIFT, continue the development of Baldwin: A Letter to My Nephew, return EMERGING, and introduce new artistic works that reflect the experiences and questions of our time.
LIFT × SOUTHERN DANCE WORKS
COLLABORATION: BALDWIN: A LETTER TO MY NEPHEW
Black Warrior Dance will return to a collaboration with choreographer Germaul Barnes and Southern Dance Works of Birmingham, Alabama to continue the development of Baldwin: A Letter to My Nephew, which premiered in June 2026.
LIFT dancers will continue working with Southern Dance Works to deepen and expand the work.
The process will also include a residency with BLTMN at the Alliance Theatre, opening the creative process to other artists and members of the community.
The residency will provide an opportunity to explore the work beyond the traditional rehearsal room and invite others into the conversation.
The process will culminate in a performance on the Hertz Stage at the Woodruff Arts Center.
NEW PRODUCTION: LOVING LLOYD
LIFT is also developing a short film based on Loving Lloyd, a repertory work created by Rodney A. Brown and a staple of the LIFT repertoire.
The work will return as part of the 2027 fall season, expanding its life from the stage into film.
NEW WORK: AT THE TABLE
At The Table will offer a choreographic commentary on the current political climate and its effects on Black men in America.
Through movement, performance, and conversation, the work will explore how larger social and political forces are experienced through the lives and bodies of Black men.
NEW WORK: BOLERO
Few musical works have inspired as many choreographic interpretations as Maurice Ravel's Boléro.
LIFT will take its own dive into Ravel's complex and increasingly layered musical score, using it as a foundation for a distinctly LIFT interpretation.
Rather than attempting to recreate what has already been done, LIFT will ask:
What does Boléro have to say through us?
The result will be a new work that engages the architecture of Ravel's score while remaining unmistakably LIFT.
EMERGING: A Course in Creativity
SPRING 2027
EMERGING returns in Spring 2027 with a new concept.
This season, each participating choreographer will be paired with a musical artist.
The choreographer will be challenged to create a creative direction for a one-song set and then take that idea through the process of producing it for the stage.
The experience will challenge emerging artists to think beyond choreography and engage the larger responsibilities of creative direction, collaboration, production, and presentation.
EMERGING: A Course in Creativity
FALL 2027
The Fall EMERGING program returns to its laboratory roots.
Choreographers will work inside a collegiate-style creative laboratory focused on the fundamentals of:
Choreography
Creative Direction
Production
Collaboration
Artistic Development
The goal is simple:
Give emerging artists the opportunity to learn by doing.
THE FOSTER FUND
The Foster Fund will make its first investments in artists during the 2027 season.
The Fund will provide:
$5,000 toward a funded artistic project
and
$5,000 in scholarships and artist support.
Together, these programs represent the beginning of a larger Black Warrior Dance ecosystem—one that creates work, develops artists, and invests in the people who will carry the work forward.
This is our first season.
But it is only the beginning.
BECOME A CO- FOUNDER
Every organization has a beginning.
The people who step forward at the beginning help determine what becomes possible.
Black Warrior Dance is inviting you to become part of that beginning.
Whether you support us with a contribution, introduce us to someone who should know about our work, become an audience member, join a class, volunteer, serve on our board, become an artist, or explore a deeper partnership—
there is a place for you here.
Level# FoundersAmountFriend — $10025$2,500Emerging — $25020$5,000Fostering — $50015$7,500LIFTed — $1,00010$10,000Warrior — $2,5006$15,000Heavy Lifter — $5,0002$10,000Potential total78$50,000
FRIEND: $100
For those who want to help us begin.
EMERGING SUPPORTER: $250
For those who believe in developing the next generation of creative leaders.
FOSTER PARENT: $500
For those who believe artists need resources, opportunity, and support.
LIFTeD GIFTER: $1000
For those who want to help artists rise.
SUPPORT WARRIOR: $2500
For those ready to stand with Black Warrior Dance throughout the season.
HEAVY LIFTER: $5000
For those interested in going deeper and exploring an ongoing partnership with Black Warrior Dance.
EVERY FOUNDER MATTERS!
The size of your contribution does not determine the importance of your participation.
You are helping build this organization from the beginning.