Bill Wade is the Artistic Director/Founder of Inlet Dance Theatre, one of Cleveland's newest contemporary dance companies.   Inlet Dance Theatre's mission is to create and perform contemporary dance at a high level of quality, skill, and innovation. Inlet Dance Theatre uses the art form of dance to bring about personal development in the lives of individuals through training and mentoring, and to speak creatively about life and the issues we all face.   Bill Wade has a long history of successful work with youth and athletes.

Inlet Dance Theatre is an outgrowth of Wade's previous eleven years as an Artist in Residence at Cleveland School of the Arts, where he founded and directed the YARD (Youth At Risk Dancing), a nationally recognized and awarded after school program.   In 1998, he received the Coming Up Taller Award at the White House in Washington DC from the National Endowment for the Arts and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities for his work with the YARD.   Bill has long believed that contemporary dance training and performing can be successfully used as tools through which lives may be positively impacted.   The creation of Inlet Dance Theatre allows for the expansion of this philosophy into new territory.

Mr. Wade has enjoyed a long-term mentoring relationship with Alison Chase, co-artistic director of the world renowned Pilobolus Dance Theater.   Alison Chase collaborated with Bill and students from Cleveland School of the Arts, creating "An Urban Nutcracker," which received national attention from DanceMagazine, TIME, and garnered a rave review in the Wall St. Journal.   He collaborated on projects with the Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Museum of Art, the Ohio Ballet, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art and even Major League Baseball.   His work has appeared in theaters, on television, at schools, in newspapers, and even in the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France.   Wade has set works from his repertory and created new works for dance companies and programs around the country.   He has also been invited to teach and set choreography overseas.