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West Virginia Dance Company was founded in 1977 under the name, the Appalachian Dance and
Music Ensemble, which it toured under for the first seven years. ADME was commissioned by the West Virginia Arts and
Humanities Council to interpret the poetry of the State Laureate, Dr. Louise McNeil Pease. Music and dance were especially
composed focusing on the strong rhythms, and bold, lean images of her poetry.
In 1986 the dance component
of ADME joined with Theatre West Virginia for management purposes and became the Theatre West Virginia Dance Company.
The company toured on the Mid-Atlantic Arts Consortium Roster during this period. The TWVDC represented the state
performing in thirteen states and in Espirito Santo, Brazil. TWVDC was selected by the West Virginia Department
of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in the project, Arts in the Classroom.
WVDC was a year round functioning dance company until the summer of 1991.
From 1991 to 1996 several different
groups of dancers created works and performed in special projects under the name of the West Virginia Dance Company.
The projects included the Pearl S. Buck Project (1991), the West Virginia Dance Festival, and a performance at President's
Park in Washington, D.C. (1993).
Fall of 1996 brought the full touring company back once again. The company
became its own 501C3 entity and has since been known as the West Virginia Dance Company. WVDC successfully accomplished
a twenty-eight performance school tour and a week residency at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, NC. The company continued
a full schedule completing two eight week residencies in the Kanawha County Schools as well as touring throughout southern
WV schools.
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 In the spring of 2001, WVDC once again stepped down from a full time touring
company and returned to a project based one. Pseudochomai, Family of Miguel Capella, and The Glass Menagerie,
a few of the dance pieces presented by the company from 2001-2004, were performed at the WV Dance Festival, Greenbrier Valley
Theatre, Snowshoe Institute, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and WV Wesleyan University. The Glass Menagerie
was a collaboration with GVT with funding provided by the WV Department of Culture and History and the National Endowment
for the Arts. Richard H. Ressmeyer, Director of the Arts in WV, voted this production to be the Best Arts Event in WV
in 2002.
In winter 2005 WVDC once
again became a full time touring dance company. After completing a successful school tour in the spring of 2005, WVDC
is back on the road traveling throughout the state performing their new children's show My Many Colored Days,
based on Dr. Seuss' book of the same name. A highlight for the company was on April 4, 2005, when Toneta Akers-Toler,
Founder and co-Artistic Director, was honored with the WV Governor's Award for Artistic Excellence. The company
performed Sketches of Fall, a piece she choreographed in 1991 based on a writing by Pearl S. Buck.
The focus
of the company will remain in educating the students of WV, through performances, lectures, workshops and residencies.
As well as school touring, the company will continue to work on larger projects.
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