After a tumultuous period of labor disputes, board changes, and funding challenges, Dallas Black Dance Theatre has hired Kristie Patton Foster to usher the nationally-recognized company into a new era as it prepares to celebrate its 50th season.
“Kristie stood out during a highly competitive national search because of her leadership experience, fundraising success and ability to build strong relationships across communities,” board chair Jack Skinner said in a press release. “She understands the history of this institution to Dallas and is the right leader to help guide DBDT into its next chapter.”
Patton Foster brings two decades of nonprofit leadership to her new role as executive director. Most recently, she served as an executive consultant for The Black Woman’s Agenda, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based organization that assesses challenges facing Black women and recommends public policy changes.
Patton Foster fills the vacancy left by longtime leader Zenetta Drew.
Drew retired in 2025 after nearly 40 years at DBDT. She raised millions for the company and grew its school. However, at the end of her tenure, an independent taskforce recommended her departure following a high-profile labor dispute with company dancers that led to a loss in public funding.
Company dancers unanimously voted to unionize and joined the American Guild of Musical Artists in May 2024. In mid-July, DBDT fired Sean Smith, a dancer and the company’s rehearsal director, and by mid-August the entirety of the main company was also fired.
Dallas Black Dance Theatre, said the decision was prompted by an Instagram video that they say violated company policy and was not related to unionizing efforts.
The dispute prompted the Dallas City Council to pause, and later cut, roughly $248,000 in public funding to DBDT.
That funding was restored in 2025, months after the company reached a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board and agreed to pay its dancers $560,000.
Founded by Ann M. Williams in 1976, Dallas Black Dance Theatre is the oldest continually running professional dance company based in the city. The company has performed at three Olympic arts festivals, the Kennedy Center and numerous international festivals in Japan, Belize and Zimbabwe, among others.
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