CUNY Dance Initiative

CUNY Dance Initiative Residency program offering NYC choreographers rehearsal and performance space on CUNY campuses.

The 2026–27 CUNY Dance Initiative Artists Are Here!We're thrilled to announce our largest cohort ever: 26 residencies su...
06/16/2026

The 2026–27 CUNY Dance Initiative Artists Are Here!

We're thrilled to announce our largest cohort ever: 26 residencies supporting extraordinary choreographers and dance companies with space, time and stipends across all five boroughs.

From flamenco, tap, and street dance to contemporary, and culturally rich traditions, these artists will spend the coming year creating, teaching, and sharing work with CUNY students and NYC communities.

2026–27 CDI Residents and Partners are... (drum roll)

Baruch Performing Arts Center: A Palo Seco Flamenco Company

BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center: Barkha patel, Danielle Diniz / Signature Steps, Chloe Roberts

Brooklyn College Ephrat Asherie Dance, Keerati Jinakunwiphat

The City College of New York: Brinda Guha

College of Staten Island: Jeevika Bhat

College of Staten Island in partnership with Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden: K.J. Holmes

Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture: Laura Peralta, Orlando Hernández & The Knee-Heart Connection

Hunter College: HopeBoykinDance, Kayla Farrish

Gerald W. Lynch Theater: Exit12 Dance Company, Sekou McMiller

LaGuardia Performing Arts Center: Grace Yi-Li Tong, Breakin'NYC / Angel Kaba

Lehman College: J. Bouey Dance Projects

Medgar Evers College, CUNY: Dedrick Gray, Makayla Peterson / Monét Movement Productions: The Collective

Queensborough Community College Dance Program: Passion Fruit Dance Company, Thick Like Me

Kupferberg Center for the Arts: Liberty Styles

The Next Festival of Emerging Artists Composer-Choreographer Partnership: Claude Johnson, Maya Miro Johnson

York College Performing Arts Center in partnership with Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning: CarNYval Dancers, Felicia B Ávalos

Congratulations to this extraordinary cohort of artists. We can't wait to see what they create. And, thanks for the shout out Dance Enthusiast!

SEE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: bit.ly/CDI2026-27

Photo of Hope Boykin Dance by Isseu Diouf Campbell for Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

TODAY, from 2-3pm, CDI resident Chrybaby Cozie is leading a workshop for Brooklyn College's Dancing on the Plaza event, ...
06/13/2026

TODAY, from 2-3pm, CDI resident Chrybaby Cozie is leading a workshop for Brooklyn College's Dancing on the Plaza event, an open-air celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture, sound, and movement.

Click through to see the day’s festivities and photos from last year’s edition.

SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 10AM-7PM
Tow Center Atrium (just outside on Hillel Place)
Brooklyn, NY

2025-26 Arts & Social Justice Resident at Brooklyn College + BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Daniel “Chrybaby Cozie” Holloway, is a Harlem-born pioneer of the Lite Feet movement who's collaborated with A$AP Rocky and performed at the Apollo Theater. A dedicated educator at institutions like Yale and Jacob’s Pillow, he empowers youth through dance, leadership, and cultural preservation.

Video: Peridance Center

06/12/2026

FREE THIS SATURDAY! Recent Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture resident Orlando Hernandez will perform "Cave Dances" as part of CROSSROADS at Socrates Sculpture Park.

Presented by Pioneers Go East Collective, Orlando Hernández and collaborators explore the location of caves within Taíno cosmology through tap dance, music and physical storytelling.

SATURDAY, JUNE 13 | 6PM
Socrates Sculpture Park | Queens, NY
GET TICKETS: pioneersgoeast.org

CROSSROADS is a series that champions LGBTQ+ and Feminist artists.

Curated by Gian Marco Lo Forte, Remi Harris and Philip Treviño.

📽️: Andrew Drachman

06/11/2026

ACT NOW FOR TONIGHT'S SHOWING! Our Comp/Choreo Workshop has a habit of selling out.

Here's a sneak peek of Fellows CJ Johnson and Maya Miro Johnson's collaboration, created during a week of pushing boundaries and forging new works out of the ether.

THURSDAY, JUNE 11 | 7:30 PM
Gibney, Studio H Hall
Lower Manhattan

SAVE YOUR SPOT W/ANY DONATION:
eventbrite.com/e/the-next-festival-of-emerging-artists-composerchoreographer-workshop-tickets-1987781272295

Claude "CJ" Johnson is a Princess Grace nominee, former A.I.M by Kyle Abraham dancer, and recent CUNY Dance Initiative resident. Maya Miro Johnson is a composer whose music has been commissioned by Kronos Quartet and major orchestras worldwide.

All 2026 Fellows are mentored by Festival Director Peter Askim, GRAMMY-winning composer Aaron Kernis, and Bessie-nominated choreographer Sidra Bell Dance New York.

06/09/2026

COUNTDOWN to 2026 residency announcement.

In the meantime, let's celebrate COLE JAZZ's recent performance at LaGuardia Community College's LaGuardia Performing Arts Center

Here's their feline PANTHER vs. CHEETAH vs. LYNX piece, ‘The Riff' as part of CLUB ACT.

Another highlight from our recently concluded CDI season.This spring, choreographer Gabrielle Lamb and Pigeonwing Dance ...
06/05/2026

Another highlight from our recently concluded CDI season.

This spring, choreographer Gabrielle Lamb and Pigeonwing Dance returned to Baruch Performing Arts Center for RISING, a breathtaking fusion of dance, live music, and environmental storytelling developed through their CDI residency at Baruch College.

Set to a sweeping score by Robert Sirota and performed live by the GRAMMY®-nominated Neave Trio, RISING drew audiences into the rhythms of the ocean and the beauty, fragility, and urgency of our relationship with the natural world.

📸: Baruch PAC

05/29/2026

As we gear up for a new CDI season, we're looking back at unforgettable residencies from the last one, like NVA & Guests.

In this behind-the-scenes glimpse of Cry Wolf, Nicole von Arx prepares a daring dance-theater work that reimagines The Boy Who Cried Wolf through explosive movement, text, and audience interaction, asking what happens when truth bends, trust breaks, and warnings go ignored.

Developed during CDI residencies at Gerald W. Lynch Theater and premiered at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center.

🎥: BTS footage by Garrett Parker, edited by Nicole von Arx

05/21/2026

Rally for Culture at City Hall 📣

Join Dance/NYC and New Yorkers for Culture & Arts on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, from 10:00–11:00 a.m. ET at City Hall Park as cultural workers and organizations come together to advocate for the culture budget New Yorkers deserve.

The Mayor’s Executive Budget includes a $10 million baseline increase for the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), but the dance and wider cultural sector needs the full $30 million baselined to sustain the city’s creative ecosystem.

As legislators finalizes the annual budget by the June 30 deadline, now is a critical moment to advocate for arts and culture funding in New York City.

RSVP: https://ow.ly/cHVK50Z2jOo

Can’t attend? You can still support arts advocacy by registering to testify at the NYC Council Executive Budget Hearing on Finance on June 10, 2026: https://ow.ly/aLu150Z2jOn

Image: Background photo of arts and culture workers rallying in front of NY City Hall, holding signs in support of the arts. Text reads ‘Advocacy Alert. Rally for Culture on May 26 at City Hall. Support the call for $30 million baselined for the Department of Cultural Affairs in FY27’.

05/20/2026

“Thanks to Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning and the CUNY Dance Initiative, I’ve been able to spend countless hours in the studio bringing this solo to life.” - Elinor Kleber Diggs

Elinor is about to premiere "Crimson" at Triskelion Arts, a bold piece exploring the place past a threshold, asking where the body stops and the world begins.

MAY 28-30 at 8PM
106 Calyer St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

GET TICKETS: triskelionarts.org/spring-2026-performances/split-bill-48

A rising artist to watch, Elinor’s work has been presented at Kaatsbaan, Gibney, and Q***R NOISE NYC, with recent honors including the 2025 Baryshnikov Arts Center Fellowship and Jerome Robbins Dance Division's Early Career Residency.

🎥: Dancer, Bryanna Strickland, as part of York College Performing Arts Center partnership with JCAL

05/14/2026

(50% off code ⬇️) PERFORMANCES START TODAY!

Gerson Lanza, one of tap’s most exciting rising artists brings his acclaimed dance-theater work "To Dance Is To Be Free" to Manhattan for just TWO performances.

MAY 14-15 | 7:30PM
The City College of New York

Blending explosive tap, live music, and spoken word, this immersive experience transforms rhythm into resistance—exploring race, immigration, identity, and liberation with breathtaking physicality and emotional force.

USE CODE ToBeFree for 50% off (only $12.50 tickets!)

GET TICKETS NOW: eventbrite.com/e/to-dance-is-to-be-free-featuring-gerson-lanza-tickets-1984461745501

Powerful storytelling. Virtuosic dancing. Limited seats. Secure yours now.

Video by Amy Guarino

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