Movers & Shapers: Robin Staff

Artistic Statement, Executive Artistic Director and Producer of DanceNOW[NYC]

My vision is to incite awareness of dance through non-traditional means that join artist and audience in an inspirational experience for both.

The daughter of a painter, I went to Goucher College to study visual and creative arts and graduated as the first dance major, charting the development of one of today’s most vital college dance programs across the country.  Paving my own way, I continued my career as a dancer at what was then considered ‘too late’, creating a small repertory company to sustain both my love of neo-classical ballet that I had studied at a very young age and my eagerness to explore new and contemporary movement styles.  My visual arts background and interest in design, have always led me into unusual urban spaces, inspiring my first gallery performance on Wooster Street in Soho in 1993.  The intimacy and enormous enthusiasm between the artists and audience members at this performance predicted my current artistic direction. I have worked over the past two decades to refine ways to make dance accessible and welcoming, bending the rules to offer audiences and artists a new way to experience dance that is relevant and fun.  As I move DanceNOW[NYC] into the next decade, my vision continues to encompass the untraditional, the unconventional and the unknown that has been the foundation of my personal goals and this organization for more than two decades.

As a dancer, I am aware of the enormous challenges that face performers, choreographers and companies.  As an administrator, my vision is guided by concern for the survival of today’s dance makers, particularly young artists.  I am steadfast in my commitment to provide opportunities that present new choices, stimulate creativity, advance careers, and encourage today’s dance makers to explore the untried, defy the archetypical and carve a path to uncover new means of expression.