CityDance Ensemble is a professional dance company based in Washington, DC. Promising its signature power, passion, and purpose at every turn, the company performs athletic, challenging repertory by choreographers from the United States and around the world. Under the direction of Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson, Rehearsal Director and Choreographer-in-Residence Christopher K. Morgan and Executive Director Alexe Nowakowski, CityDance Ensemble blends exceptional technique and physicality with a dynamic mix of energy, emotion, and humor to deliver performances full of integrity, expression, and life.

Since its inception in 1996, CityDance has grown from a group of part-time dancers to a professional company of nine full-time, salaried professional dancers who hail from the Juilliard School, New York City Ballet, and other world class schools and companies, earning a reputation as "Washington's preeminent modern dance company” (The Washington Times). The company has been named as a “Top 25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine (2003) and has won the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist (2003) and Innovation in the Arts (2005).

CityDance Ensemble is an artistic partner at the Harman Center for the Arts, performing an annual season at the Harman Center in downtown Washington, DC. The company is also a founding resident partner at the Music Center at Strathmore, the "jewel in the crown" (The Washington Post) of Washington's performing arts music centers. Additionally, CityDance has an annual season at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The company tours both nationally and internationally, bringing its “breathlessly innovative” (Dancer Magazine) performances to audiences around the world.

Unlike most traditional modern dance companies, CityDance does not perform dances made by a single choreographer but instead performs dances created by many different artists. This collaborative spirit is at the heart of the entire artistic process and builds the foundation for the company’s three signature repertory series.

• The Originals Series commissions original scores by leading composers from across he musical spectrum, creating new works that range in style from classical to contemporary.
• The Legacy Series returns great historic dance masterpieces to the current repertory in commitment to celebrating the art form’s distinguished past while staging works that remain relevant to today’s audience.
• NEXT commissions new dances by emerging choreographers ready for the world stage, forging works that are innovative, challenging, and exciting for both performers and audience members.

In addition, CityDance FilmWORKS, the company's award-winning film division, makes original dances for the camera and presents film festivals in partnerships with leading organizations around the region.

2008 Paul Taylor grants rights for CityDance to perform his piece Last Look, the first time a company other than Mr. Taylor’s own has been granted licensing for this piece. Taylor also grants permission for another work in 2009.

2008 CityDance is presented by Joyce SoHo, marking the company’s New York City debut.

2007 New England Foundation for the Arts awards CityDance NEA American Masterpieces grant to reconstruct Sophie Maslow’s Folksay.

2007 CityDance is named an artistic partner with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, launching an annual season at the new Harman Center for the Arts in Washington, DC.

2007 Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Books premieres at The Kennedy Center in March before beginning an annual run at the Harman Center, establishing a long-term family concert program.

2007 Performance Moves, a television news magazine hosted by Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson, goes on the air throughout Montgomery County, Maryland.

2006 Company completes third international tour with a three-week program in Poland, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Serbia.

2005 CityDance FilmWORKS receives DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Innovation in the Arts.

2005 CityDance becomes the resident dance company and dance education partner in the new Music Center at Strathmore in N. Bethesda, MD, and opens the CityDance Center at Strathmore.

2005 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra commissions two new works from CityDance for performance with the orchestra in Baltimore and Washington, DC. CityDance joins Strathmore partner Levine School of Music in a live production of Peter & The Wolf before 2,000 concert goers in the new Concert Hall at the Music Center at Strathmore.

2004 Company completes second international tour with programs in Poland and Lithuania.

2003 CityDance Ensemble wins the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist.

2003 Dance Magazine names CityDance Ensemble as a company among the “Top 25 to Watch.”

2003 FilmWORKS premieres at Washington, DC’s leading independent movie house to rave reviews.

2002 Company completes first international tour, opening the 300th Anniversary Dance Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.

1996 CityDance Ensemble is founded by Artistic Director Tara Pierson Dunning and Executive Director Paul Gordon Emerson.

Barnes & Noble
Book Fair
Dec 6 & 7, 2008

Purchase items at Rockville's Barnes & Noble during our book fair and a percentage of all proceeds will be donated to CityDance! Download a voucher and learn more.

CityDance Choreography Commission

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