Danspace Project is a performance venue for

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

. Its performances are held in St. Mark's Church in the East Village area of the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

Founded in 1974 by

Barbara Dilley Barbara Dilley (Lloyd) (born 1938) is an American dancer, performance artist, improvisor, choreographer and educator, best known for her work as a prominent member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1963-1968), and then with the groundbreaking ...

Mary Overlie Mary Overlie (January 15, 1946 – June 5, 2020) was an American choreographer, dancer, theater artist, professor, author, and the originator of the Six Viewpoints technique for theater and dance. The Six Viewpoints technique is both a philosophi ...

, and

Larry Fagin Larry Fagin (July 21, 1937 – May 27, 2017) was an American poet, editor, publisher, and teacher, and a member of the New York School. Biography Born in Far Rockaway, New York City, Larry Fagin grew up in New York, Hollywood, and Europe. He bega ...

to support the creation of new work in dance and performance. A fire damaged the church in 1978 and performances were temporarily held at the Third Street Music School. Judy Hussie-Taylor became the Executive Director in 2008. In 2010, she launched the Platform series, which invites an artist to curate performances and events around a certain theme. Danspace has shaped contemporary New York dance history presenting artists such as

Ishmael Houston-Jones Ishmael Houston-Jones (born 1951) is a choreographer, author, performer, teacher, curator, and arts advocate known for his improvisational dance and language work. His work has been performed in New York City, across the United States, in Europ ...

, Bill T. Jones,

Trajal Harrell Trajal Harrell (born 1973) is an American dancer and choreographer. Best known for a series entitled ''Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church,'' Harrell "confronts the history, construction, and interpretation of contemporary dance ...

Okwui Okpokwasili Okwui Okpokwasili (; born August 6, 1972) is an American artist, performer, choreographer, and writer. Her multidisciplinary performances draw upon her training in theatre, and she describes her work as at "the intersection of theatre, dance, and ...

, and many others.

References

Dance in New York City Dance companies in the United States Dance venues in the United States Culture of New York City Dance organizations Performance art in New York City 1974 establishments in New York City

History

See also

References