The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an expansive program providing New York City choreographers and dance companies with creative residencies on CUNY college campuses, announces public performances in winter 2025 and the next open call for applications.



This season, the CUNY Dance Initiative is underwriting residencies for 24 early- to mid-career choreographers at 13 CUNY colleges and three partner arts organizations in all five boroughs. CDI residencies are in full swing this winter with public performances by Laura Peralta and IMGE Dance (details below).



CDI also announces an open call for applications for its next residency cycle. Professional NYC-based choreographers and dance companies working in all styles and forms are invited to apply, and applications can be submitted between January 15 and February 20, 2025. CDI supports residencies that are for rehearsal only, or may culminate in a public performance, and all awards include an honorarium in addition to the space grant. CDI, via its consortium of CUNY colleges and arts organizations, expects to award 22 to 24 residencies from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. Starting with the 2025-26 cycle, CDI has forged a new partnership with Works & Process. In addition to a CDI rehearsal residency at Queens College, the selected artist will be awarded a fully-funded out-of-town Works & Process LaunchPAD residency.



More information about the residencies and application: http://bit.ly/CDIHowtoApply.



PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

Laura Peralta: Entre Líneas

February 1 at 7:30pm

LaGuardia Performing Arts Center

31-10 Thompson Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101

General admission $25 / Faculty & Staff $20 / Students $15

Tickets: lpac.nyc



In Entre Líneas, Afro-Dominican Flamenco artist Laura Peralta uses the individual symbolic elements of Flamenco – the dress, the shawl, the guitar, rhythm, masculinity, and femininity – to examine the tension between tradition and self-expression and explore how Flamenco’s archetypes can be both limiting and empowering. In her debut production as an emerging independent artist, Peralta charts a new path after over a decade performing with renowned companies such as Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana and Soledad Barrio y Noche Flamenca, among many others.



IMGE Dance: (no)man

February 14-15 at 7:30pm

BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center

199 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007

General admission $40 / Students $30

Tickets: tribecapac.org or (212) 220-1460



Culture and movement merge with IMGE, an American dance company blending Indian classical dance, hip hop, and contemporary styles. Led by Ishita Mili, IMGE brings a fresh perspective to storytelling, tackling social, cultural, and environmental themes through a global movement vocabulary. Weaving together dynamic body language, percussive footwork, and a soundscape that pulls from 11 different languages, from Bengali to Yoruba, (no)man examines relationships between [power-loss] and [birth-death] to reveal repeating cycles between the past, present, and future.



ABOUT THE CUNY DANCE INITIATIVE

In 2024, the CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI) marked a decade of supporting the NYC dance field. The program was developed in response to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s 2010 report, “We Make Do,” which cited how destabilizing the shortage of affordable rehearsal space in New York City is to the dance sector. A successful pilot supporting residencies on four CUNY campuses in 2013 led to CDI’s formal launch in 2014. Since then, CDI has become a key player in New York City’s performing arts ecosystem, leading a consortium of 13 CUNY colleges and three arts organizations to host 20+ residencies for NYC choreographers and dance companies each year. In the past 10 years, CDI has granted 247 residencies to emerging and established choreographers, providing invaluable resources to artists, while enhancing CUNY students’ education and cultural experiences. The CUNY Dance Initiative’s 10th Year Impact Report can be seen at https://www1.cuny.edu/sites/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2024/01/cdi_impact_report.pdf.



The CUNY Dance Initiative receives major support from The Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Howard Gilman Foundation. Additional support is provided by the SHS Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s Charles E. Culpeper Arts & Culture program, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. CDI is spearheaded by The Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative



ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Laura Peralta is flamenco dancer, performer, arts educator and native New Yorker with Afro-Dominican roots. She dances for companies including Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, Soledad Barrio y Noche Flamenca, A Palo Seco Flamenco, Pasión y Arte, Nélida Tirado Flamenco and Isaac Tovar Compañia Flamenca. She has performed throughout the US, working closely with celebrated artists at venues including Jacob’s Pillow, the Delacorte Theater, the Rockefeller Estate, Kaatsbaan Cultural Center, BAM Fisher Hall, the Joyce Theater and Lincoln Center. Peralta has taught masterclasses for Kaatsbaan Ballet Intensive and numerous university dance programs, and currently teaches in New York City and performs nationally and internationally. She was recently featured in a production of “Carmen” at Lincoln Center, and in “Amor Brujo” alongside choreographer Isaac Tovar and cantaora Esperanza Fernandez. Her collaborative work was selected for the Queensborough Dance Festival, and she has received commissions from Flamenco Vivo for the 2021 dance film “6hilos”, and MNE’s Emerging Choreographer Series in 2021 and 2024.



Laura studied piano and voice at the Manhattan School of Music, graduated from the Johns Hopkins University and was a scholarship recipient at the School at Jacob’s Pillow. Peralta also appears in the feature film “De Lo Mio”, currently on Criterion Collection. Laura has studied flamenco extensively in Seville, Spain under artists including Ursula Lopez, Guadalupe Torres, el Oruco, La Moneta, Cristina Aguilera, Miguel “el Rubio”, Carmen Ledesma, Juan and Pilar Ogalla, Jose Maldonado, Florencia OZ, Patricia Guerrero, and Karime Amaya.



IMGE Dance (”image”) is an American dance company that unravels traditional forms from Indian and American classical, folk, street styles, and contemporary to reinvent how movement connects our experiences. Their work navigates themes of belonging and home, multiplicity in identities, and mythic explanations of reality to make audiences think more about how they interact with the world. IMGE was founded in 2017 by Artistic Director Ishita Mili, and has attracted a roster of niche artists with unique identities from the New York City metro area.



Ishita created the IMGE methodology by weaving her eclectic foundation in Mayurbhanj chhau, house, bharatanatyam, old-way vogue, and more diasporic forms and has taught all over the world. She was awarded Artist of Exceptional Merit by the Asian American Arts Alliance, received a Folks Arts Apprentice grant under the NJ State Council of the Arts, and was a guest choreographer at Princeton University. Ishita most recently was selected into the LabWorks Cohort (’24-’25) at New Victory Theater.



IMGE and Ishita have reached inter/national stages from Lincoln Center Out-Of-Doors, Battery Dance Festival, Seattle International Dance Festival, to the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. They’ve designed numerous commercial campaigns and experiences with clients like NBCuniversal, IndoWarehouse, Sona Restaurants, and fashion/lifestyle brands. They have also worked in musical theater including Broadway Bares and Asolo Rep’s “Hair.” IMGE was featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair and amassed a loyal global fan base with millions of views on their short film “Time Travellers.” www.imgedance.com





### (from )

• January 15
  and every day until February 20th

  January 15, 2025
• Online
  , New York, NY

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