About

As a leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit cultural organization, The Center for Contemporary Dance maintains the following mission:

-To Produce a season of compelling dance works that celebrates the creative and cultural diversity of our community.

-To Encourage significant new work by providing an environment in which emerging artists are supported by the finest professionals producing dance today.

-To Cultivate the next generation of dance professionals by providing the highest caliber of dance education.

-To Reach out to young audiences and underrepresented populations with innovative programs in arts education.


Home to five professional contemporary dance companies and an institute for dance education, The Center for Contemporary Dance is a leading production center for contemporary dance performance and arts education programs.  The organization receives funding from state and federal granting agencies, including United Arts of Central Florida and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as generous support from community-minded corporate sponsors.  

Over the past 8 years, The Center for Contemporary Dance has supported emerging and seasoned artists in the creation and presentation of more than 170 new dance works.  In addition to producing professional stage productions, The Center for Contemporary Dance develops arts education programs that reach child welfare organizations, underserved populations and our public schools.

Featured on PBS, FOX News and The Daily Buzz, The Center's contemporary dance companies continue to exhilarate audiences with their power, grace and honest expression of emotion.  The Center for Contemporary Dance currently develops and produces work for its founding companies, U-Turn Dance Company and Moore Dance Project, and provides a home to these resident artists: Patelworks Dance Theater, DRIP and Nao Dance Collective.

And as a dance education center, The Center's non-recital, non-competition school of dance is designed to transform dancers into mindful, socially-aware Artists who inspire audiences with their technical skill and expressivity.  Blending creativity and structure, The Center's performance-based school of dance functions a place of higher learning based on the National Standards for Dance Education, training dancers to become confident Artists who see their bodies as powerful instruments for purposeful storytelling.