Souls of Black Houston

ABOUT URBAN SOULS DANCE COMPANY

Founded in 2004, Urban Souls Dance Company (USDC), is a Houston-based contemporary dance company and arts organization that is committed to bridging the gap between life and dance theater. The mission of Urban Souls is to foster connection and build community through dance, education, and advocacy. Urban Souls builds upon community assets to tell stories of the Black experience, prioritizing racial equity and advancing healing and justice.

About Harrison Guy

Harrison Guy (He/Him)  [Activist, Choreographer, Cultural Architect and Community Builder]
Harrison Guy considers himself a student of the city and uses a movement-based practice to document, preserve, and honor Black history and culture. He was a founding member of two modern dance companies in Houston, Exclamation Dance Company and Dorrell Martin’s Dance Fusion. In 2004 he founded Urban Souls Dance Company- a modern dance company based in Houston who focuses on providing a safe space for Black dancers to learn and share Black stories. Harrison has captivated audiences across the nation through his inspirational and unique works of truth, beauty, and activism. Using his personal identity as a Black gay man as a catalyst, he is interested in how Black life and African American traditions might be accessed in the pursuit of healing. He has facilitated a cultural exchange in Kigali, Rwanda, and was commissioned to create a work at Vanderbilt University in the Spring of 2015 to honor one of America’s most prominent composers, John Harbison. In 2016 he launched Houston’s first African American Dance Festival and he has also founded Black Arts Movement Houston, a gathering space for local creatives. Harrison was the inaugural Artist in Residence at Rice University through the CERCL Department where he presented a project for Black students and the community called Black Bodies in White Spaces. He is the Founder of the Charles Law Community Archive through the Black LGBTQ History & Heritage Project with the African American Library at The Gregory School.  Harrison is the Director of Arts and Culture for the 5th Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation where he leads the 5^th Ward Cultural Arts District and manages the Historic DeLUXE Theater. Harrison is currently on dance faculty at the Kinder High School for Performing & Visual Arts. He is a 2022 Dance/USA Artist Fellow made possible by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) and he is one of the inaugural recipients of the BIPOC Art Network and Fellowship Artist Award 2023.