IIBADA DANCE COMPANY

ABOUT US

Our mission is to provide cultural enrichment, discipline, arts education, and opportunities to build and empower youth, young adults, and communities through the art of dance.


Our vision is to ignite the Indy performing arts industry by investing in our young performers of the future, cultivating a culture of support, and providing opportunities that foster sustainable careers in the arts within Indianapolis and beyond.

Children's African & Modern Dance

Iibada Dance Company is a Children's African and Modern Dance performance company. Founded in 1989, Iibada focuses on provided access to dance education to all youth throughout Indianapolis and surrounding areas. We are a predominantly African American organization; where our focus is to provide quality arts programming to low-income families who currently reside in underserved communities. Although this is our aim, we welcome all aspiring dancers regardless of background, ability, religion, gender, orientation, or race. Iibada Dance Company has served 3 generations of students who have now grown into both thriving young performers and professionals throughout the nation. Our students have danced for company greats such as Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Philadanco, Dayton Contemporary Dance Theatre, and many more. Our dancers have also been fortunate to be cast in great productions such as The Lion King, The Color Purple, Dream Girls, and Chicago just to name a few. For 34 years, Iibada has served and produced great artists within our communities and we are just getting started.

PRESIDENT

Roland Smith

Roland A Smith is an Indianapolis Indiana native who earned his bachelor's degree at Tennessee State University in Commercial Music and Performance. IDC was his first arts administration opportunity right out of college as the Assistant Director, Instructor, and Choreographer. He relocated to Chicago Illinois to pursue performance opportunities within professional dance companies and regional musical theatre. Before becoming a leader in arts administration, Smith performed with various organizations throughout Chicago such as Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre and Endure Productions.


His musical theatre roots stem from opportunities in regional productions of Guys and Dolls, Anything Goes, DreamGirls, Porgy and Bess, and The Wiz just to name a few. While in Chicago, he shifted his focus to arts administration as he was offered a role as Visual and Performing Arts Director within Noble Network of Charter Schools. Since his return to Indianapolis in 2018, he assumed the role of the Director of Community Engagement for Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and Chief Program Officer for IDC. Smith has always gone by the motto, “Where Ever God Leads Me.” His journey has brought him full circle as he now the new Executive Director for IDC. He is ecstatic to usher IDC into the chapter.

OUR PARTNERS

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