Before 1980, there were few spaces to practice and experience Black contemporary dance in Los Angeles. But the Lula Washington Dance Theatre, an international company that is based in the Crenshaw District of South Los Angeles, has worked to change that narrative for new dancers vying to learn and perform dance in the city. 

Lula Washington began her training in her early 20s after taking her first dance class at Los Angeles Harbor College in Wilmington. She later enrolled at UCLA, and obtained her Bachelor’s, and later her Master of Fine Arts, in Dance. With the goal to build more space for ethnic groups in Los Angeles to perform dance compositions in front of live audiences, Washington, with the help of her husband, Erwin, developed a series of workshops and collaborations to create more opportunities locally for artists to develop contemporary dance skills. By the mid-1980s, the Washingtons’ dream matured into the Lula Washington  Dance Theatre (formerly Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Theatre), which consisted of a professional dance company and a local dance school for new and seasoned dancers.

Over the past four decades, Lula Washington Dance Theatre has toured a repertory of Black choreography in more than 150 cities across the globe. The Washingtons’ daughter, Tamica Washington-Miller, continues her parents’ legacy as the Associate Director, and the school continues its performing arts education, offering a range of classes in ballet, jazz, African, tap, and other styles of dance.