SAMPLES OF AVAILABLE MEDIA
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Promotional images of Joshua Ishmon
Promotional photography for Modern Mix '26
COMING SOON: VIDEO TRAILER
Chicago artist Joshua L. Ishmon to premiere new dance work on Mutual Dance Theatre (Cincinnati)
Mutual Dance Theatre
Email: communications@mutualarts.org
Phone: 513-494-6526
Website: mutualdance.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CINCINNATI, OH, MARCH 12, 2026 — Mutual Dance Theatre (Cincinnati’s resident Modern Dance company) welcomes Joshua L. Ishmon to its choreography cohort for Modern Mix ’26 (May 1-2, 2026 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts).
Joshua L. Ishmon is a dance choreographer and performer currently based in Chicago. He has shared the stage with Bobby McFerrin and is an Artist in Residence at Purdue University’s Black Cultural Center. Since 2007, Ishmon has been with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, which is rooted in traditions of American and African-American dance and storytelling. There, Ishmon was the founder and curator of an emerging choreographer’s showcase, as well as a rehearsal director; recently, Ishmon was named a resident choreographer at the Chicago company. Ishmon, who was voted Chicago’s “Best Choreographer” (Chicago Reader, 2017) and listed as a Breakout Contemporary Dance Artist by Newcity, is also a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist, a 3Arts Make a Wave artist, and founder of Production: COLORS.
| FUN FACT ABOUT JOSHUA ISHMON: Ishmon is a fan of manga and used to produce a podcast on Japanese graphic novels. |
Modern Mix is the annual closing performance of Cincinnati resident modern/contemporary dance company, Mutual Dance Theatre. This year, the concert concludes Embrace: A Season of Connection. Modern Mix ’26 promises a wide variety by four remarkable artists, each choreographing on MDT for their first time. Joining Joshua Ishmon’s choreography are dance pieces by Shane Ohmer (Philadelphia, former tour dance captain of Phantom of the Opera), Nat Wilson (New York, of Yue Yin Dance Company), and Sirui Liu (principal at Cincinnati Ballet).
Of the experience, Ishmon says, “This was my first time working with Cincinnati artists and I truly appreciated how open, vulnerable, and giving they brought themselves to this process every day. Jeanne [Mutual Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director] and the dancers were warm, genuine, and met the challenges I presented to them with grace and conviction. What more could any movement architect/choreographer ask for?”
Ishmon’s new work, “Entelechy” is a high-energy piece, influenced deeply by the Cincinnati dancers’ personal lives and shared stories of difficult moments in which they toiled to realize their potential. Ishmon says his choreography is a form of both investigation and collective support.
Mutual Dance Theatre and Arts Centers is supported this year by: the Robert & Adele Schiff Family Foundation; the generosity of tens of thousands of contributors to the annual ArtsWave Campaign, the region’s primary source for arts funding; the H.B., E.W. & F.R. Luther Charitable Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee; an investment of public funds from the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically; the Crosset Family Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation; and gifts, both large and small, from individuals like season sponsor, Karen Zaugg.
EVENT DETAILS
What: Mutual Dance Theatre’s Modern Mix ’26
When: Friday & Saturday, May 1–2, 2026, 7:30pm (plus, Friday post-show Q&A with artists and Saturday pre-show 7pm interview)
Where: Aronoff Center for the Arts
Cost: starts at $29 (early bird discount available for purchases by April 2, 2026)
Tickets: 513-621-ARTS or cincinnatiarts.org/events/detail/mutual-dance-theatre-in-modern-mix-26
More information: mutualdance.org/modernmix26
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Photography / Assets / Links
This press release can also be found here or accessed as a Google Doc here.
Interviews with choreographers and performing artists can be arranged by contacting communications@mutualarts.org.
Downloads for press are available here.
Video trailers will be added to the asset folder linked above by the end of March.
About Mutual Dance Theatre and Arts Centers
Mutual Dance Theatre is the city’s longest-running Modern Dance organization and the area’s only consistent presenter of Modern and Contemporary Dance. MDT was formerly known as Contemporary Dance Theater (est. 1972 by Jefferson James) and MamLuft&Co. Dance (est. 2007 by Jeanne Mam-Luft) until their merger in 2021. Both organizations began as performing troupes, but in the early ‘90s, CDT dissolved its company and subsequently focused on presenting guest artists. The two organizations joined to create the aptly-named Mutual Dance Theatre and Arts Centers, taking enumeration from its elder half and thus celebrating its 54th season in 25-26. Mutual has honored and combined the priorities of both founding organizations: investing in a virtuosic local company with the aim of becoming a significant presence both locally and nationally, as well as the continued presentation of Modern and Contemporary Dance from across the States (and sometimes, beyond). Mutual also reaches thousands of children each year through education and its academy, as well as charity-supported outreach. Learn more at mutualdance.org.