NYCOLE
RAY

A Detroit native, Nycole Ray graduated from The California Institute of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. She received additional training at the California State Summer School of the Arts, Wayne State University, and as an exchange student at the London Contemporary Dance School in England. Mrs. Ray has performed with Bruce Wood Dance Project, Walt Disney World Entertainment, Christopher and Friends directed by Christopher L. Huggins, Lula Washington Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II, and Zadonu African Dance Company. She has worked with noted choreographers such as Donald McKayle, Dianne McIntyre, Christopher L. Huggins, Alonzo King, Donald Byrd, Bruce Wood®, Rennie Harris, and Camille A. Brown. In addition to her concert dance performances, she has appeared in music videos and industrials in the U.S. and Europe.

Nycole's choreographic works include Opaque, restaged on Ohio Contemporary Ballet, 2026; Echoes of Diaspora: A Ballet Infused and Inspired by Afro-Atlantic Histories; Nineteenth, created in commemoration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment through a grant from the 19th Amendment Centennial Fund (2020). In 2025, she was commissioned by Texas Ballet Theater for their "International Woman" program — the company's first commission of women choreographers in 20 years. She also co-choreographed Love Songs (The Day Light Shifted) with Kimi Nikaidoh and Jennifer Mabus for Bruce Wood Dance Dallas, an all-women collaboration paying tribute to the legacy and vision of Bruce Wood®. Her work The Breath Within premiered at Dallas Black Dance Theatre's Director's Choice Series in 2025.

Mrs. Ray has created works for the University of Dallas, Wayne State University, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, DBDT: Encore!, Milwaukee Dance Connection, and Detroit Renaissance High School. She was commissioned by The Dallas Opera to choreograph Samson and Delilah, and has had multiple collaborations with the Dallas Museum of Art, including Frida, Frida and Frida based on the Mexico exhibit (2017); Art on 5th Avenue based on the contemporary jewelry designs of Arthur Smith; The Subtle, The Sum…Give More Than You Take based on the Jim Hodges exhibit (2013); The Line of Beauty that Runs Through based on works from The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece exhibit (2013); and Le Afrique Masquerade for The Art of Disguise exhibit of African Masks (2010). She also created a commissioned work for the Dallas Holocaust Museum in 2009.

Nycole is the 2013 recipient of the Natalie Skelton Award for Artistic Excellence from the Dance Council of North Texas. She was a featured choreographer for the Ninth FINTDAZ Festival in Iquique, Chile (2016) and the Tenth Annual Choreographers Choice Series in Dallas, and premiered work at Vienna's 2003 International Black Dance Festival and Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Festival. She accompanied Dr. Chuck Davis as an invited guest during his annual pilgrimage to Africa, and has served as a teaching assistant and adjunct at Texas Woman's University. Mrs. Ray received the 2011 Artful Dancewear Teachers Scholarship through The Dance Council of North Texas and is a certified Dunham Technique Instructor.

A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Nycole served as Director of Dallas Black Dance Theatre's Summer Intensive program, Rehearsal Director for Bruce Wood Dance, Assistant Rehearsal Director for Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and Director of Bloom, Dallas Black Dance Academy's Performing Ensemble. She served 15 years as the Artistic Director of DBDT: Encore!, during which time 60% of DBDT's company members were developed through the Encore! program. In 2021, she was named one of D Magazine's "Women Who Make Dallas Great." Her tenure with Dallas Black Dance Theatre spanned 28 seasons.