DHT's performing company shut down in September 2004 in order to reorganize and recover from a $2.4 million budget deficit. Two weeks later, the company closed its school after its insurance was canceled. The school reopened in December after a fundraising effort led by Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser and newly named executive director Laveen Naidu brought in $1.6 million.

Mitchell said that the company would soon follow suit. "We have great hopes of re-establishing our company in the near future," he said.

Mitchell, a former dancer with New York City Ballet, founded the groundbreaking African-American troupe in 1969.