Dallas Black Dance Theatre prepares for upcoming performance ‘Cultural Awareness'

Dancers at Dallas Black Dance Theatre are in rehearsals for a performance next week called 'Cultural Awareness.'

"I wanted to play with the different emotions and things in life that affect us," Hana Delong said.

Delong is a dancer with Dallas Black Dance Theatre who is choreographing her first piece for DBDT titled 'Post Mortem.' It will be the first dance in the upcoming 'Cultural Awareness' performance.

"So I thought about, 'OK, what if I created a lifeline, like from birth to death, and things that we go through, whether it be love or heartbreak?'" Delong said. "I'm like, how can we express ourselves physically to show that exact emotion that you would say through words?"

"The music that I'm using; I'm using hip hop and R&B," Delong said.

"I do also have a section I dedicated to the Black male experience; just the different things and society stigmas they have upon them."

'Cultural Awareness' is a celebration of cultural diversity and an expression in dance that ranges from difficulties to joy.

"I feel like sometimes we run to art to escape things, but sometimes art is also the way to express the day-to-day struggles that we have, emotions that we have, and things that we go through," Delong said.

"And just seeing it in a different light may also open someone else's eye to it if they see it differently than they normally see it every day."

'Cultural Awareness' runs February 9-10 at the Wyly Theatre in Dallas.

Tickets are available to see the performance in-person and online.