Brian Webb steps back as Molly McDermott takes over Edmonton dance company
The founder of the Brian Webb Dance Company is handing artistic leadership to Edmonton dance artist Molly McDermott as the organization enters its 48th season.
Molly McDermott, the new artistic director of the Brian Webb Dance Company.
Photo by Mat Simpson/Brian Webb Dance Company.
Brian Webb is stepping back as artistic director of the Edmonton dance company he founded in 1979, with Molly McDermott taking over the role as the Brian Webb Dance Company enters its 48th season.
The leadership change was announced in May 2026, with Webb and McDermott working together through the transition. McDermott is now identified as the company's artistic director on BWDC's current website.
Webb established the company in Edmonton in 1979 after returning from New York, where he had worked with choreographer Eric Hawkins and the Carol Conway Company. He had graduated with distinction from the University of Alberta with a BFA in Theatre and formed the company as a company in residence at Grant MacEwan College, where he also chaired the Dance Program for 10 years.
BWDC began presenting its own dance seasons in 1991. The company has emphasized experimentation, new work and collaborative creation, and began presenting work by other dance artists that year, with a focus on the diversity of Canadian dance.
Its work has included more than 40 commissioned musical scores, as well as collaborations involving visual artists and writers. The company has presented and toured work across Canada and internationally.
Webb's work has also included national arts leadership. He served as artistic director of the Canada Dance Festival at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa from 2001 to 2011. During that period, his programming included HipHop 360 in 2007 and Dancing In, Through and Between Cultures, a 2009 festival and symposium focused on diversity in Canadian culture.
He has also held leadership roles with the Alberta Dance Alliance and CanDance Network and served as chair of the Edmonton Arts Council. The City of Edmonton's Arts and Cultural Hall of Fame inducted Webb in 2002.
McDermott's appointment brings a new artistic director with deep ties to Edmonton's dance community.
She graduated from Grant MacEwan College and Simon Fraser University, receiving a BFA in dance in 2007. Her work as a performer, choreographer and teacher has included collaborations with Kokoro Dance, Co. Erasga Dance, Les Productions Figlio, Mascall Dance, Deanna Peters and Justine A. Chambers. She is also a collective artist with Edmonton's Good Women Dance Collective.
McDermott's choreography has been presented through organizations and festivals including Mile Zero Dance, Vines Art Festival, Nextfest, New Dance Horizons, Connections//Collisions and Expanse. She curated the dance presentation at Expanse Festival in 2023.
She has also already worked with BWDC. Her piece in and out of dark, featuring five Edmonton-based artists, was presented by the company in May 2026 as part of its 47th season.
Webb said he is confident in McDermott's direction for the company.
“Molly is a very informed and generous dance artist,” he said when the appointment was announced. “I am so confident that she will reach into new concepts of what contemporary dance may be.”
McDermott described the appointment as an honour and acknowledged BWDC's importance to Edmonton and Canadian dance.
The company's 2026-27 season is its 48th and includes work by Rachel Meyer, collectif9, Jeanette Kotowich, James Viveiros and Amber Borotsik, along with international collaborations.
Webb remains involved in the company's artistic programming. The current season includes Canada/India... India/Canada, a world-premiere project involving Webb, Indian artists Anuj and Neha Mishra, Edmonton dancer Marla Palakkamanil, and musicians Gary James Joynes and Deepak Paramashivan.
The change therefore comes with Webb moving out of the artistic-director role while continuing to contribute to the company's artistic work.
For an Edmonton organization that has been shaped by Webb since its founding, the appointment of McDermott establishes a new period of artistic leadership while keeping the company rooted in the dance community that helped shape it.
