D.I.V.A. Inc was founded in 1983 by 6 women Fine Arts Student on the campus of Howard University who saw that there was a need for an organization for all female Fine Arts students. Our founding principles are based on 6 elements: Creativity, Sexuality/Self-Enrichment, Sisterhood, Womanhood, Unity, and Discipline. Our core goals as an organization are to bring unity to the women of the arts by promoting finer creativity within oneself, one's soul and one's craft, to promote self-confidence and an outgoing attitude with respect to one's craft, and to promote finer womanhood in every aspect of the word. Our 39 year sisterhood boasts among our ranks Grammy, Emmy, and Tony award winning artists. We are now hoping to use our platform to help Black and POC women led arts organizations who do meaningful work with their art to help change our world for the better.
In our first ever September Spotlight we are highlighting the amazing work of one of our own sisters, Lindsay Renee Benton and her company Notnebia located in Atlanta, GA!
Lindsay is a Performer, Choreographer and Educator with a background in concert dance, musical theatre, and dance on film. Her choreography has appeared on national and international stages including Muda Africa Dance Company in Tanzania, The Whispers "I Sing This Song" music video, The Debórah Show (TV Special) and Sean Penn's Haiti relief organization JP/HRO. Her work in theatre includes choreography for Nina Simone: Four Women (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Romeo & Juliet (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), and Crowns (Cultural Fusions Theater). Much of her Choreography lives and is shared on the concert stage through companies and festivals including Shona Shareef African Dance Company(PA), Lindsay Renea Dance Theatre(OH), Time 2 Dance Festival(Tanzania), Collegium of African Diaspora Dance(NC), La Femme Dance Festival(Illinois), ModArts Collective Thread(NY), and Alabama Minority Choreographer Festival.
Lindsay uses all of her years of aquired knowledge to empower her young students and dancers. She hopes to inspire generatons of young dancers to embrace dance as not only an art but alos a vehicle for change. She says Notnebia is "Where the future of Black Dance is Imagined, learned and created."
