In this residency, choreographer Lionel Popkins, will develop Reorient the Orient, a multifaceted exploration blending performance, installation, and social critique. Responding to the complex history of interculturalism, Popkin amplifies the presence of brown South Asian bodies in contemporary art and performance. The final work will create an immersive public sharing across Dance Place's theater, lobby, and studios, community members will be invited to explore freely, choosing their path and encounters.

ORIGIN: A Spiritual Journey Back Home, will take the audience on an amazing journey, reconnecting the African spiritual traditions back to the beginning, back to Africa, where those traditions were a central aspect of life, family, and community. KanKouran’s Artistic Director, Assane Konte, will present an elaborate showcase of choreography that demonstrates a riveting and highly energized array of traditional spiritual dances that celebrate the long ancestral line from Africa to the world abroad.

Step into the world of Brinae Ali, an extraordinary band leader, dynamic vocalist, and tap dancer. This residency is a unique fusion of jazz, dance, and storytelling, featuring Ali at the helm. Joined by a six-piece jazz ensemble, tap and contemporary dancers, actors, and a turntable/soundscape artist, Brinae Ali will lead you on an immersive artistic journey where rhythm, movement, and melody converge in an unforgettable experience.

In continued commitment of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities, Dance Place celebrates Black Futures and Living Month by partnering with the BlackLight Summit. BlackLight seeks to be a spark to ignite daring innovation and to reveal the creativity in the dance ecosystem. Working in collaboration Dance Place and BlackLight, has curated an ecstatic evening of queer BIPOC performance.

Dancing en lo sucio: Conditions of Undress is a captivating evening-length presentation by Washington D.C. artists Gabriel Mata and Amelia Rose Estrada. Featuring three compelling works that intertwine themes of gender, race/Latinidad, queerness, and critical performance, this event delves into the realm of queer Latinx dreaming and world-building through powerful movement explorations. This work is a part of Dance Place’s Co-Presentation Series.

Ouroboros invites you to embark on an immersive evening-length solo dance experience that seamlessly blends contemporary and Middle Eastern dance styles. This interactive theatrical journey explores the ancient snake dances of the Middle East, anchored by the powerful symbolism of Ouroboros.

*Please be aware that this performance incorporates rose water and Turkish delights that contain nuts*

make me a monument is a new dance construction created specifically for the Dance Place Theater in the form of a live show, and an imagined solution to a real problem. It incompasses a collaborative cast of dancers, musicians, and fabric curtains to explore communal effort, shifting landscape, symmetry, and human relationship to environment.

'A&I' is a new dance and multimedia live production between five performers and a solitary AI interface (Luna) that uses smart home technology on a theatrical scale. The work questions how we see and care for the technologies we have created, which hold up the fragile ecosystems of modern society. Engaged in embodied conversations of their hopes and dreams, the performers and Luna are led into situations where they must see each other ‘face-to-face’–– together creating emotionally driven digital and sonic landscapes that reference the nostalgia of what it means to be a 21st century human.
The work evokes a ghostly ephemeral tone at times, as Luna uses the intangible elements of memory, light, and sound to hold the performers during the piece. Like the voicemail of a loved one who has passed away, the work taps into the timelessness and the impermanence of shared human experience and gives focus to the hopeful and ominous future we are creating with AI.

Dance Place is excited to bring back New Releases, a mixed-bill showcase designed for DMV based emerging artists to grow in their choreographic practice, receive feedback, and present new works!

The Spring Youth Performance Showcase celebrates the work of our youth from Dance Place’s various educational programs.