A Decade in flight.
Ten years of contemporary ballet, circus arts, and theatre in service of works of high artistic merit and of bettering the world through dance.
2015
FOUNDED
7
COUNTRIES TOURED
10+
MAJOR RESIDENCIES
RudduR Dance was founded in 2015 by Christopher Rudd as a platform to create works of high artistic merit and to better the world through dance.
Based in New York City, the company blends contemporary ballet, circus arts, and theatre to speak to social issues.
2015
BEGINNINGS
The company gained recognition through STREB Lab for Action Mechanics' GO! Emerging Artist Commission Program, establishing the studio practice and physical vocabulary that would carry through the next decade.
In 2017, the U.S. Embassy Burkina Faso, World Learning, and Arts Convoy supported a two-city tour to Burkina Faso, West Africa, where the company performed at the Ouagadougou International Dance Festival (FIDO) and the In-Out Festival in Bobo-Dioulasso, and for the Mogho Naaba, Emperor of the Mossi people. The company has also performed in military camps, prisons, and international festivals.
2017
FIRST TOUR
2019
RECOGNITION
In 2019, "RudduR Dance Empowers the Americas" toured Ecuador, supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the NEA, and the Mellon Foundation. That year, Christopher Rudd received the Guggenheim Choreography Fellowship, and the company undertook residencies at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Tofte Lake Center, and STREB.
2020
RESIDENCIES
In 2020, RudduR Dance was named the inaugural New Victory Theater LabWorks company in residence, with a focus on youth engagement. The residency extended through 2022. During the pandemic, the company participated in a bubble residency at Kaatsbaan, supported by Works & Process at the Guggenheim.
2023
ONGOING
Residencies at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Chelsea Factory, and the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU supported the continued development of the company's work. Christopher Rudd was named one of "6 Theater Works to Watch" by American Theatre Magazine.
2024
APOLLO NEW WORKS
The first full preview of WITNESS, at the Apollo stages.
Developed over nearly a decade, the work charts Black Americans' journey toward equality across three interconnected sections: YESTERDAY (2018), which depicts the dehumanizing brutality of slavery through dancers shackled in chains and pulled back by bungees; TODAY (2022), which confronts criminal justice disparities affecting African-American families; and TOMORROW (2024), which envisions liberation using customized trampolines, culminating in chains literally breaking and falling.
2025
TEN YEARS
RudduR Dance performed WITNESS: Part III - TOMORROW at New Victory Dance as part of New 42's 30th anniversary season. The year also marked a major milestone: the 10th anniversary of The Place Between, RudduR Dance's first work blending contemporary ballet, circus, and theater.
A list of RudduR Dance’s past presentations can be found HERE.