Demystifying Dance Making - From Idea to the Stage and Beyond!

Image: Shauna Sorensen and Annabelle Popa (Queens Arts Fund New Work '23), "Gossamer 2.0," 2021, dance and painting, Image Credit: Zanza Steinberg (Media by Z)

Do you have an idea and need advice on first steps to take? Want to learn actionable steps to take your ideas to the stage? Do you have questions you want to ask a choreographer real-time? 

Join the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) for “Demystifying Dance Making - From Idea to the Stage and Beyond!,” designed for choreographers and dance makers from emerging to established. 

Whether you have created your first work or not, Founder and Artistic Director of RudduR Dance and NYFA Board member Christopher Rudd will share his experience and provide tips, tools, and advice on the logistics of dance making with time for Q&A. 

By the end of this session, you’ll have gained insights into the practicalities of dance making: how to find resources (dancers, studio space, etc); overarching brushstrokes of what fiscal sponsorship is and what benefits it provides for dance makers and choreographers; and tips for creating a budget sheet and fundraising goals. 

This is the first event of a 3-part series. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on future events.

This is an online Zoom webinar. Those who register will receive the Zoom link to participate soon after registration.

Event Breakdown

What: Demystifying the Making of Dance - Idea to the Stage and Beyond!

When: Tuesday, April 30, 5:30-7:00 PM ET

Where: Online via Zoom

Audience: Choreographers and Dance Makers in any career stage

Presenter: Christopher Rudd

Cost: Free (Pay-What-You-Wish) 

Register: Register here

Questions: Email learning@nyfa.org

Presenter's Bio:

Christopher Rudd (CBA ’23) is a Jamaican-born dancemaker whose work is informed by his experience as a queer Black man in dance and transverses ballet, contemporary, and circus arts.  He is a 2019 Guggenheim Choreography Fellow, the inaugural New Victory LabWorks Launch Artist, the creator of the groundbreaking works TOUCHÉ and LIFTED for American Ballet Theatre, a current resident artist for both BAM and Chelsea Factory; he was named one of 2023’s 6 to watch by American Theater Magazine.  In hopes of bettering the world through dance, his works blend contemporary dance, contemporary circus, and theatricality to speak to relevant issues.  As founder of RudduR Dance, he is a two-time Exchange Alumni through the US State Department, having presented his works in the United States, Canada, France, Trinidad & Tobago, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, and Italy.  He credits the Armour Dance Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem’s Summer Intensives, and New World School of the Arts for his professional career, which includes Carolina Ballet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal, and Cirque Du Soleil.  Rudd has created works for the Alvin Ailey School, Duke University, and UNC School of the Arts and received residencies from CUNY Dance Initiative, Vendetta Mathea’s La Manufacture, Tofte Lake Center, Kaatsbaan, and STREB.