“In 1993, I produced my first ‘Gallery Series’ at the beautiful 101 Wooster Gallery in Soho, featuring Sara Hook’s “Caucasian Rituals,” along with work by David Parker, Amos Pinhasi, Lisa Race and Kathy Wildberger. It was a huge success due to the intimacy of the space. I did not know it then, but this paved the way to bring dance into NYC’s most unconventional sites.”

- Robin Staff, DN Executive Artistic Director

DANCE NOW (formerly Colloquium Contemporary Dance Co), directed by Robin Staff, comes together with 550 Broadway Studio and Zvi Gotheiner Dance Inc, managed by Tamara Greenfield, to introduce dance into the Soho Arts Festival as a pilot program. DN gathers 23 Artists, including Sara Hook, David Parker, Andre Gingras, Amos Pinhasi, Sally Hess, Jeanine Durning, Linda Tarnay, Heidi Latsky, Kristin Jackson, Amy Sue Rosen and Jim Martin. In just two months, they present in 3 Soho venues - The Swiss Institute, Gallery Henoch and Dia Center for the Arts, managed by Joan Duddy. The lines to get in ran past Houston Street!

DANCE NOW becomes the official dance program of the multi-arts Downtown Arts Festival (formerly Soho Arts Festival), presenting 75 dance makers in 8 downtown venues: the American Opera Projects, Atlantic Gallery, David Barton Gym, Dia Center for the Arts, Great Hall at Cooper Union, Gallery Henoch, Soho 20 Gallery, and 550 Broadway Dance.

“Our early years were produced on the barest of barest bone budgets. There are a lot of memories of running chairs and sound equipment through the streets of Soho to keep up with our madcap schedule of performances."

- Tamara Greenfield, Founding Director and Producer

“Hours before we started the Festival  in the ball field at Carmine Center, the heavens opened up. So, we all waited in the locker rooms for the weather to pass. When the rain finally stopped we realized the ball field was a muddy mess! We asked the artists who still wanted to perform. Monica Bill Barnes jumped up and said, “I do!” and ran onto the field with her dancers."

- Robin Staff, DN Founder and Executive Artistic Producer

DN kicks off the fall dance season during the Downtown Arts Festival, presenting 100+ dance makers in 35 different events at Chelsea Piers, Joyce Soho, Carmine Center in the West Village, OK Harris Gallery, Gallery Henoch in Soho, and The Great Hall at Cooper Union in the East Village.

Jane Comfort & Company first performed with DANCE NOW in 1998 and is a perennial artist on our tiny stages. During a November 2020 interview with Pod De Deux, about Jane shares her thoughts about her work, her long career, and motherhood.

Listen to the interview.

“Every year it seemed like the artists came up with more outrageous site specific dance ideas, and we were 100% behind them! For the performance outdoors at Chelsea Piers Park, there was a dance off a bus, dance on the deck of the Chelsea Screamer, and most memorably, dance in a row boat. This last piece ended with both dancers flipping overboard into the water!"

- Tamara Greenfield, Founding Director and Producer

“DANCE NOW pretty much has the magic formula: 10 dances in 50 minutes. What's not to like!? Just wait 5 minute for something COMPLETELY different!”

- Gus Solomons jr

DANCENOWFEST, the week following Labor Day, produces in larger spaces for the first time: The Joyce Soho, the John Jay College Theater and WAX in Brooklyn. While this new chapter was cancelled on 9/11, it successfully re-launched at Dia Arts Center in late October – a gift from Joan Duddy and her staff to keep DANCE NOW moving forward.

Read more about DN's 9/11 experience and how Kyle Abraham was involved here.

“Joan Duddy embraced DANCE NOW from its very first days, and stood by us until she left us in 2015. She was a truly gracious and generous supporter of the dance community - helping to promote, sustain, nurture and advance the careers of so many. Joan made a difference. Without her, there would be no DN.”

- Robin Staff, DN Founder and Executive Artistic Producer

In 2002, DN created the Silo Artist Residency program at Kirkland Farm to extend the organization’s services to offer artists and professionals in the field of dance an inspiring haven in which they could come together to create, process, rehearse, or just escape the pressures of city life and to continue the Kirkland legacy of the farm being home to the artistic community.

“The partnership we have formed with DANCE NOW Silo gives our students access to some of the most innovative dancemakers who are active in the world today.”

- Tim Cowart, Director Dance Department at DeSales University

In 2003 the DANCENOW/NYC FESTIVAL, brings together 160 dance makers across Manhattan at The Joyce Soho, Dance Harlem at Marcus Garvey Park and, for the first time, in Danza Washington Heights at Highbridge Park in partnership with graduate students from Columbia U.

Learn more about DN's dancing uptown, via this Instagram post.

DN also launched the Dance-moplitan series during the 2003 Festival for the unique and intimate setting at Joe’s Pub, beginning an enduring relationship with a unique and tiny stage.

“Fellow graduates from Columbia University, Marcy Auerbach and Corina Storrs came to us to propose doing a DN event in Washington Heights. Highbridge Park has been associated for such a long time with negative things, we wanted to do something positive and celebrate dance and open spaces.”

- Almanzar Paramio, volunteer DANZA Washington Heights

“'It’s hard to break into the dance scene in New York,’ said Ms. Barton, who is Canadian.  ‘I moved to NY not knowing anyone and presenting work where I could. It was a blessing I crossed paths with Robin. It opened doors for me.’ ”

- Excerpt from The New York Times, 2005

Uniting communities from uptown to downtown, east to west, DN presents at The LGBT Community Center in the West Village, Joe’s Pub in the East Village, Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, Highbridge Outdoor Pool in Washington Heights and The Joyce Soho.

Little did we know that TruDee (aka Deb Lohse) would come along covered in pink to become our perennial host.

“How was I to know that so many of the amazing people in the room that night would become friends, champions of my work and lifelong collaborators.”

- Deborah Lohse, Comedian, Dancer & Choreographer

The DANCENOWNYC FESTIVAL, presents more than 150 artists at Dance Harlem in Marcus Garvey Park, at the Cathedral at St. John the Divine, at Dance-mopolitan at Joe’s Pub, at DANZA Washington Heights, and expands to Dance Theater Workshop, opening the Dance Theater Workshop’s second season in their new space with the program 4OUP!

“These days, showcases like DANCE NOW are beginning the process of feeding the field for the next 10 years. DTW has had its own showcase, Fresh Tracks, but the theater’s 33 week season does not afford it the come-one-come-all generosity that DN enjoys.”

- Kathy Edwards, Artistic Director of Dance Theater Workshop 2003 - 2006

“During the 2006 Dance-mopolitan Festival Series, Doug Elkins, who had suspended his company in 2003 to raise his son, presented a small work to the Sound of Music’s ‘Lonely Goatherd’, which his young son, Liam, was addicted to. Sitting there on the old red couches in the Pub, I turned to Doug and asked, ‘What do you think about doing the entire score of the Sound of Music?’ He did not hesitate to reply with an enthusiastic yes.”

- Robin Staff, DN Founder and Executive Artistic Producer

"DANCE NOW is both a lifeline - an essential part of being a contemporary dance company in New York looking to stay visible and viable - and a treat, the equivalent of a family party where you love all your relatives."

- Doug Elkins, BESSIE Award winning Artistic Director of doug elkins choreography, etc.

With the tagline ‘Find Your New Artistic Crush,’ coined by the New York Times, DN presents 70+ dance makers at Dance Theater Workshop. All the while DN continues the Dance-mopolitan series throughout the year at Joe’s Pub, presenting a Latin music and dance focused program, ‘Mojito’, and ‘Petronio Summer Reunion’, hosted by Stephen Petronio and featuring members of his company past and present.

"When we first started presenting work at Joe’s Pub, dancers complained about the size of the stage and focused on all its restrictions. But soon, artists started to see the tremendous creative potential of the space - its intimacy, theatricality, and dynamic interaction with the audience. Now we have a whole generation of work created specifically for this unique venue."

- Tamara Greenfield, Founding Director and Producer

During FESTIVAL TWENTY TEN, DN takes its ‘less is more policy’ to the next level, initiating the DN Challenge, asking Festival participants to create a new work or present a repertory work of seven minutes or less, that offers a concise, clear, and complete artistic statement. 

The Dance-moplitan series continues at Joe’s Pub, presenting John Heginbotham’s ‘One Man Show’ and Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black’s ‘The Whiz.’ The latter continues DN’s popular series of full-length modern dance pieces based on musicals. 

DANCE NOW SteelStacks, an expansion to Bethlehem, PA in partnership with ArtsQuest, launches with the presentation of audience-favorite The Bang Group’s “ShowDown”. What will become a decade long partnership is off to an auspicious start.

In the spring and summer of 2011, Joe’s Pub temporarily closes for an extensive renovation. Once it re-opens, DANCE NOW moves all of its programming to Joe’s Pub, calling it the DANCE NOW JOE’S PUB FESTIVAL, becoming a testing ground for new ideas, direction and work to be developed for NYC’s best tiny stage.The DN Challenge continues and Iain Rowe is selected as the 2011 DN Challenge winner for his new work, “I See Myself in You”.

DN also presents Nicole Wolcott and Vanessa Walter’s “Alley of the Dolls”, Kyle Abraham’s “Heart Break and Homies”, and The Bang Group’s “Misters and Sisters” as part of its Dance-mopolitan series.

“Moving from DTW to Joe’s Pub for the Festival was a huge shift. The schedule had to change to accommodate the Pub’s live music focus, the artists had to plan for a different, pie-piece shaped stage, all the equipment at the Pub was brand new, the staff was new - we were the first people teching in the renovated space. Everyone was figuring out how to do a dance festival with 40 artists in that space. It was stressful, but really really fun.”

- Lauren Parrish, Production Manager and Lighting Designer

DANCE NOW celebrates 10 years of presenting at Joe’s Pub during the DN JOE’S PUB FESTIVAL, featuring 40 dance makers over four evenings, and the top ten works and challenge winners in its newly added Festival Encore. 

Nicholas Leichter’s “TWENTY TWENTY” with Bryan Strimpel, Camille A. Brown’s “One Second Past the Future”, and Monica Bill Barnes’ “Snow Globes” are presented in the Dance-moplitan series at Joe’s Pub.

“DANCE NOW has been an integral part of my journey as a performer and dance maker in NYC."

- Bryan Strimpel, co-choreographer and performer BAIRA/MVMNT PHLOSPHY

DANCE NOW, to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Joe’s Pub, moves to October, asking 40 dance makers to take the DN Challenge and inviting the audience to weigh in with a nightly vote as to who they felt best met the Challenge. Those artists were then presented at the DN ENCORE, giving audiences a second chance to see the best pieces from 2013.

DN presents “Dorothy, Annie, Maria” (bringing back excerpts from “The Whiz”, “ShowDown” and “Fraulein Maria”), Adam Barruch’s “My Name is Barbra Adam”, and TAKE Dance’s “Somewhere Familiar Melodies” via the Dance-mopolitan Commissioned Artist series.

Forty dance makers take to the stage at Joe’s Pub, and Bryan Strimpel and Shaina Branfman come away the winners of the DANCE NOW Challenge.

Claire Porter’s ‘Sent-ence’, The Bang Group’s ‘Head Over Heels’ and Sara du Jour, Deborah Lohse, and Gregory Dolbashian’s ‘Awkward Magic’ are presented during the Dance-moplitan Commissioned Artist series.

During “Awkward Magic” the audience was first introduced to Deb Lohse’s alternate cabaret identity TruDee, now a fixture of the DN experience.

“I don’t know what was in the air in 2014, but the pieces were crazy (and by crazy, I mean crazy good). We had bear costumes, pizza, umbrellas, cheetos, so many sequins, and fried chicken onstage. Bryan and Shaina carried a bench to the theater on the subway, Larry did a strip tease in a fat suit, and Art and Myrna had me strapping video cameras and projectors to columns. It was a lot, but it was also what the Festival was about for me. All these ideas, and us saying, ‘Yes, sure, we can try that.’”

- Lauren Parrish, Production Manager and Lighting Designer

In 2016, the idea of a host evolves again when DN invites TruDee, aka Deborah Lohse, to host the full four days of the Festival. TruDee is a hot-pink phenomenon, directly engaging the audience and keeping both the energy and the evening moving.

Megan Williams is the DN Challenge winner for her new solo with a chorus of gentlemen, “One Woman Show.” It was developed into a full evening work as a DN Commission in 2018.

The DANCE NOW Festival at Joe’s Pub, hosted once again by the fabulous TruDee, brings 40 dance makers to Joe’s Pub. DN selects Christal Brown as the DANCE NOW Challenge winner for “At This Point”, the final piece in her “The Life Cycle Series”, and a culmination of premiering these segments as part of the Festival over many years.

The DANCE NOW FESTIVAL, hosted by TruDee, presents 40 dance makers in four nights, and a successful Encore.

DN selects emerging choreographer, Brendan Drake as the DANCE NOW Challenge winner for his work, “This is Desire Part II”.

Megan Williams’ evening-length work, “One Woman Show”, exploring the ideas of femininity and aging in the entertainment industry, is presented in the Dance-mopolitan Commissioned Artist series. The piece is presented in the 2019 DN APAP program and later tours it to SteelStacks in Bethlehem, PA as part of the DANCE NOW SteelStacks program.

The DANCE NOW FESTIVAL, hosted by TruDee, features some of the most innovative and bold emerging and established artists. DN continues its focus on multi-generational programming, putting newcomers and veterans side by side in the signature short takes format. Nicole Vaughn-Diaz, who came to DN as a dancer for Kate Weare Company and who DN first saw as a choreographer through the RAW series, is selected by the DN team as the DANCE NOW Challenge Winner for her new work, “A Portrait of Them”.

ZviDance’s “On the Road” is re-worked for Joe’s Pub and remounted as part of its Dance-moplitan Featured Artist series, giving a challenging multi-media work built around the company retracing Jack Kerouac’s route across the country on a road trip a fresh perspective.

“DANCE NOW has successfully facilitated a performance space dependent on camaraderie. It’s incredibly refreshing and important in remembering what a supportive environment can be...The spirit and ingenuity the show consistently produces every year serves as a reminder, to both community and audience; to keep supporting, keep creating, and keep showing up. DN is a testament to the healing powers of art and performance.”

- Nicole Vaughan-Diaz, Dancer & Choreographer