The Beginning

Tobacco Road Dance Productions started with a conversation between two friends, Stephanie Blackmon Woodbeck and William Commander, in early 2013. They saw a need in North Carolina's dance community, and had a vision to fulfill that need. After a few months of investigating how to make this happen, TRDP was born.

William Commander is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer based in Durham, NC, where he lives with his lovely wife Emily and daughter Kate. He is a 2011 graduate of Elon University, where he earned his BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography. William has worked with NC-based choreographers Renay Aumiller, Lauren Kearns, Killian Manning, Gasard Louis, Sara Tourek, Diego Carrasco Schoch, and Autumn Mist Belk, as well as Philadelphia choreographer Lauren Williams, DC-based choreographer Adrian Clancy, and Buffalo choreographer Jon Lehrer. His work has been shown all across North Carolina, as well as in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Bill believes strongly in artistic collaboration, and is constantly striving to improve those around him as much as himself.  He dances and creates dance knowing that his ability does comes not from himself, but is gift from God. 

Stephanie Blackmon Woodbeck is a dance artist based in Hillsborough, NC. She earned her BFA in dance from UNC Greensboro and her degree in massage therapy from the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences in New York City. Stephanie has the pleasure of dancing with Renay Aumiller Dances in Durham and John Gamble Dance Theatre in Greensboro. Additionally, she has recently performed with Alice Lee Holland, Kathleen Kelley, and Jahna Bobolia in New York; Moving Collective in Louisville, KY; and Erin Drummond, Alternative Motion Project, and Wicked Sister Dance Theather in Minneapolis, MN. Stephanie’s choreography has been presented throughout the country, including Dance New Amsterdam and Brooklyn Arts Xchange in New York, the Minnesota Dance Festival, and the Greensboro Fringe Festival. She strives to make thoughtful, highly physical, quirky dances. Stephanie lives in a busy home with her husband, two daughters, and an ever changing menagerie.