Brandon Ragland, 41, is steering one of the oldest ballet companies in the United States into its 89th season. Dayton Ballet's artistic director since 2023, in his first company leadership role, Ragland has spent three seasons building what he calls a diverse 21st-century troupe — a mix of dancers and choreographers representative of today's multicultural society.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Ragland earned a BS in dance (arts administration) from Butler University and danced professionally with Alabama Ballet and Louisville Ballet. As a choreographer, he has created works for Dayton Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Alabama Ballet, Ballet Arkansas, and others. He spoke with Pointe at the 2026 OhioDance Festival about his first three years and the upcoming 2026–27 season.

A steep learning curve

"Going straight from being a dancer to a leadership role like this, there was a huge learning curve," Ragland said. "As dancers, our biggest focus is ourselves and our growth as artists. As an artistic director, my focus became much broader."

Balancing administrative, artistic, and community duties, he said, "has also taken some getting used to." But looking back, he sees the plan working: "When I look back on the three previous seasons, I can see my vision for the company starting to come to life. Now I am looking at what the next three to five years will look like."

Last season's Rhythm of the City program, a collaboration with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company celebrating the city's funk music legacy, bolstered his momentum.

The alliance advantage

Dayton Ballet and its school operate under the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance alongside Dayton Opera and the Dayton Philharmonic. The partnerships carry direct artistic and financial benefits. This past season, Dayton Ballet dancers performed in Dayton Opera's Carmen — gaining extra weeks of employment and working with a flamenco choreographer in a style the company doesn't normally do. The Philharmonic provides live music for The Nutcracker and other story ballets, "which would be a real financial challenge if we were a separate entity," Ragland said.

DPAA's budget is around $8 million, with the ballet's share fluctuating by season. Collaboration, Ragland said, is the best way to maximize those funds and keep patrons of each art form subscribing.

Accessibility is part of the mission. For all productions except The Nutcracker, the company offers an allotment of $5 tickets "to reduce the barrier to seeing a ballet performance," Ragland said.

Rewriting the repertory

Ragland's stated goals included more opportunities for choreographers of color and female choreographers, and updating classic story ballets. Recent repertory programs, including the Pointes of View series, have featured female choreographers, female choreographers of color, and queer choreographers, among them Andrea Schermoly, Qarrianne Blayr, and Alia Kache.

Two years ago, Ragland choreographed a new Nutcracker. Beyond Dayton-specific touches such as a nod to the Wright Brothers, he set the second act in the Land of Time rather than the Land of Sweets, avoiding the problematic country-themed divertissements. His approach to story ballets has now shifted from reimagining existing works toward creating new narrative ballets — either new stories or familiar tales that have rarely, if ever, been made into ballets.

In 2024, he introduced a 10-member Studio Company: a two-year, tuition-free pre-professional trainee program for dancers aged 18–23. Its members perform corps de ballet roles with the main company, anchor community-engagement work, and are the first pool Ragland draws on when hiring. When he auditions dancers, he looks for "adaptability, musicality, and attention to detail," plus the self-motivation to retain choreography for several works simultaneously.

The 2026–27 season

The season opens in September with West Side Story, a collaboration with Dayton Opera and Dayton Philharmonic in which the dancers will do some singing — a first for them. October brings Alun Jones' A Midsummer Night's Dream alongside Ragland's neoclassical Force Flux, created for Louisville Ballet in 2019. His Nutcracker returns in December.

February's Pointes of View program features Joshua Peugh's Slump, a new work by former Dayton Contemporary Dance Company dancer Elizabeth Ramsey, and revivals of two of Ragland's past works. The season closes in April with a Philharmonic collaboration pairing a new Ragland ballet to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony with Andrea Schermoly's choreography for Copland's Appalachian Spring, created on Louisville Ballet this past April.

Dayton Ballet at a glance

• Company dancers: 20
• Contract length: 29 weeks
• Starting salary: $500/week
• Performances per year: upwards of 20
• Auditions: in-person and online via Dance Apply; Ragland advises submitting a video showing technical proficiency and unique movement quality

With a new Studio Company feeding the main troupe, a reimagined Nutcracker in the repertory, and three full seasons of his programming behind him, Ragland is now planning the company's next three to five years.