New York, NY (June 23, 2025) ― The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an expansive program providing New York City choreographers and dance companies with creative residencies on CUNY campuses and beyond, announces the awarded artists for its 2025–26 cycle.
From July 2025 to June 2026, CDI is underwriting residencies for 25 early-to-mid-career choreographers at 14 CUNY colleges and three partner arts organizations in all five boroughs. These NYC-based artists, selected from an open call that drew a record-breaking 293 applicants, reflect the diversity of NYC’s dance field, and also mirror CUNY’s student demographics. They work in a wide range of dance styles and forms — from ballet to street, tap, flamenco, and contemporary and culturally specific traditions. In addition to providing space and financial support for the development of new and existing projects, all CDI residencies include master classes, guest lectures, or open rehearsals to connect artists with CUNY communities. The full roster of awarded artists is listed below, and details on public performances, including world premieres, will be announced later this year.
“Over the past 11 years, the CUNY Dance Initiative has built a consortium of CUNY colleges in direct support of local dance artists and New York City’s creative economy,“ says Frank H. Wu, president of Queens College, where CDI is based. “The initiative provides choreographers with resources such as rehearsal time, space and funding, all of which are critical for advancing their careers. CUNY students as well as communities local to the campuses benefit from the master classes and performances that CDI sponsors. There is no other residency program of this nature in the nation. We are proud that it is led by Queens College.”
CDI has awarded residencies to 270 choreographers since the program began in 2014, launching companies and choreographic careers. “Our multiple CUNY residencies have been invaluable parts of Kizuna Dance’s artistic growth over the years, always coming in at pivotal moments — from our early tour prepping days to our 10th year anniversary performance in 2024,” says Artistic Director Cameron McKinney. Kizuna Dance will premiere a new work at John Jay College’s Gerald W. Lynch Theater in spring 2026.
With Hunter College rejoining the program in 2025-26, CDI now partners with more than half of the colleges in the CUNY system. “The reciprocity of professional artists working in Hunter College dance studios will reverberate across our community,” says Maura Donohue, Chair of the Dance Department. “These residencies will forge a pathway into and out of our curriculum, and provide much needed support to artists we know will benefit from time and space on campus.”
Partnerships beyond the CUNY system are integral to CDI’s collaborative ethos and commitment to expanding opportunities for artists while building audiences for dance. CDI has forged a new partnership with Works & Process this year: the jointly selected artist (Nubian Néné) has been awarded both a CDI rehearsal residency at Queens College and a week-long, out-of-town Works & Process residency. CDI’s two-year Arts & Social Justice Residency, established in 2021 with Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), welcomes its third artist this cycle: Chrybaby Cozie and The Breakfast Club E.A.T., led by Daniel Holloway, the Harlem-born pioneer of the Hip-Hop freestyle genre called Lite-Feet. In Staten Island, CDI partners with Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, and in Queens, York College teams up with Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning.
2025–26 CUNY Dance Initiative Resident Artists and Host Partners
Baruch College: Baruch Performing Arts Center (Manhattan)
Pigeonwing Dance
BMCC: Tribeca Performing Arts Center (Manhattan)
NVA & Guests
Elodie Dufroux
Arts & Social Justice Residency at Brooklyn College in partnership with
Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX)
Chrybaby Cozie & The Breakfast Club E.A.T.
Brooklyn College: School of Visual Media and Performing Arts (Brooklyn)
Kayla Farrish
The City College of New York: City College Center for the Arts (Manhattan)
Gerson Lanza: To Dance Is To Be Free
Jeevika Bhat
College of Staten Island in partnership with Snug Harbor Cultural Center (Staten Island)
MBDance
Hostos Community College: Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture (Bronx)
Laura Peralta
The Knee–Heart Connection
Hunter College: Dance Department (Manhattan)
Kyle Marshall Choreography
Naomi Funaki
John Jay College: Gerald W. Lynch Theater (Manhattan)
Ephrat Asherie Dance
Kizuna Dance
LaGuardia Community College: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (Queens)
Sun Kim Dance Theatre
COLE JAZZ & The NEW Jack Cole Dancers
Lehman College: Department of Dance and Theatre (Bronx)
Megan Curet
Medgar Evers College: Department of Mass Communications, Creative and Performing Arts & Speech (Brooklyn)
Adia Tamar Whitaker & Àṣẹ Dance Theater
Claude Cj Johnson
Queensborough Community College: Dance Program (Queens)
Barr Bodies
Johnnie Cruise Mercer
Queens College: Kupferberg Center for the Arts and Department of Drama,
Theatre & Dance (Queens)
A Lady in the House Dance Company/Nubian Néné (in partnership with Works & Process)
Xianix Barrera Flamenco Co.
York College, in partnership with Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (Queens)
Sheer Spectacle
Elinor Kleber Diggs
Bios for 2025-26 CDI artists are here. Artist photos are available for download here.
ABOUT THE CUNY DANCE INITIATIVE
The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI) is a transformative incubator that secures two vital yet scarce resources—rehearsal time and performance space—for New York City choreographers and dance companies. Housed within the City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s largest public urban university system, CDI is a residency program that supports local artists, enhances the cultural life and education of college students, and builds new dance audiences at CUNY performing arts centers.
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, underwritten by the New York Community Trust, led to CDI’s formal launch in 2014. More than a decade later, CDI has become key player in New York City’s performing arts ecosystem, leading a consortium of 14 CUNY colleges and four arts organizations to host 20+ residencies each year.
The program is spearheaded by the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. Alyssa Alpine has been the director of the CUNY Dance Initiative since its founding in 2014.
The CUNY Dance Initiative receives major support from the Howard Gilman Foundation and the Mertz Gilmore 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.
More information about the CUNY Dance Initiative is available at www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative or on Facebook or Instagram.