McKoy Dance Project || MDP is a nonprofit contemporary dance company based in Brooklyn, NY. Led by Founder and Executive Artistic Director Derick McKoy, Jr, the company employs a diverse group of arts leaders and innovators who are passionate about telling realistic stories of our experiences. MDP’s first performance in 2019 involved a collaboration with the Opus 87 Piano Quartet on an evening length ballet called “Looking Out: A Stonewall Memorial.” Since then, the company has produced and premiered a feature film and performed around various venues in the NYC metropolitan area. During the summer of 2021, the company received a special invitation to perform on Juneteenth, now the eleventh federally recognized holiday and the first in 38 years. MDP seeks to be a trustworthy and equitable platform geared towards providing opportunities for people of color and the LGBTQ+ community.
Our Mission: To mirror the experiences we live through today, MDP’s mission is to empower people of all backgrounds, especially those who have been historically marginalized, through arts programming and accessible events that highlight authentic stories and strengthen community relationships and support systems. It is important to us that we foster connection and healing by diving head-first into works that are sensitive and conscious of the inequities and trauma built into our society.
The company was founded on five pillars which we strategize around and track our progress:
- To create jobs: for the choreographers who seek opportunities to create; for the dancer who only want to show you their world; for me to tell my story
- To inspire and touch, to share with one another: for those who seek a deeper investigation into life. Dance touches that which we cannot fully conceptualize yet. It gifts a closer connection with the intangible and sometimes indescribable.
- To give purpose: to create interest and conversation with topics that surround us.
- To create leaders: charging each other to move into action.
- To heal: recover from traumas and pain (conscious and unconscious).
MDP is Hope. MDP is vision.
We are a culmination of reflection, celebration, and triumph.
November 25th, 2019
McKoy Dance Project || MDP’s debut performance. The company presented the evening length ballet, “Looking Out: A Stonewall Memorial” with the Opus 87 Piano Quartet
October 10th, 2020
McKoy Dance Project || MDP becomes incorporated
April 16th, 2021
Premiere of MDP’s Feature Film, “These Stars Are Something Heavy“
May 22nd, 2021
“Hush” premieres as part of the Nimbus Arts Festival at the completion of a five-week residency
June 19th, 2021
MDP performs “Hush” on Juneteenth at the Jamaica Dance Festival
May 14th, 2022
MDP presents their first New Visions concert to a nearly sold out house with eight company dancers, and four exciting ballets including three world premieres
McKoy Dance Project 