Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (CPRD) is a cultural ambassador, infusing vitality, innovation and education into every community we touch—around the corner and around the globe.
Every action we perform is done with the intent to transform ourselves and others; to give a voice to the voiceless; to leave a lasting legacy of excellence and understanding.
CPRD was founded in 1970 and became a 501(c)(3) Not-for-Profit organization in 1974, continuing to build upon its dance school and ensemble origins. For five decades, we have developed into an internationally esteemed organization that operates beyond the traditional performing arts model.
There are four pillars of the organization, namely, the CPRD Ensemble, Academy, Theatre, and Education programs. Working in concert, CPRD programs have created an oasis where a varied population—by gender, race, age and ethnicity—gather to study and appreciate a modern, cross-cultural approach to creative community development. Housed in the historic A.M.E. Shorter Church in Five Points, CPRD serves as a convener of community, art and dance.
CPRD is hiring in 2021!
Advocacy and Engagement Director and Development Associate positions are now open and close January 25th. Job descriptions and information on applying can be found here:
Director of Advocacy and Engagement
CPRD Development Associate
Cleo Parker Robinson is founder, artistic director and choreographer of the 50-year-old Denver-based artistic institution, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. She leads a professional dance Ensemble, Youth and Junior Youth Ensembles, a Dance Academy, an International Summer Dance Institute, a 240-seat …
+Cleo Parker Robinson is founder, artistic director and choreographer of the 50-year-old Denver-based artistic institution, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. She leads a professional dance Ensemble, Youth and Junior Youth Ensembles, a Dance Academy, an International Summer Dance Institute, a 240-seat theatre that bears her name, and a myriad of community outreach programs. She continues to be the recipient of honors and awards from civic, community, and artistic organizations around the world, and is called on by a myriad of organizations and performance venues to bring her Ensemble for performances, and to conduct workshops, master classes, and motivational seminars. Her philosophy of “One Spirit, Many Voices” is reflected in all she does, and is the vision she brings to everyone she meets, everywhere she goes.
A master teacher/choreographer and cultural ambassador she has taught and performed with her Ensemble in such diverse places as Iceland, Singapore, Hawaii, Nassau, Belize, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, throughout Europe, and throughout the African continent. People of all ages and backgrounds have participated in Ms. Parker Robinson’s workshops and master classes at conservatories, universities and neighborhood dance centers worldwide Ms. Parker Robinson’s awards include the Colorado’s Governor’s Award for Excellence (1974), Denver’s Mayor’s Award (1979), induction into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame (1989) and the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame (1994). Recognized in Who’s Who in America Colleges and Universities she holds Honorary Doctorate from Denver University (1991), an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Colorado College (2003), and an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Regis University in Denver (2008). Ms. Parker Robinson was a long-standing member of the Board of Directors for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and in 1998 Cleo Parker Robinson Dance became an affiliate of the Center.
In 1998, President Clinton named Ms. Parker Robinson as one of two artists to be appointed to the National Council on the Arts where she served until 2005 as one of the two appointed members of the fourteen-member council in Washington D.C. In 2005, Ms. Parker Robinson received a Kennedy Center Medal of Honor during the Center’s “Masters of African American Choreographers” series. Also in 2005, Ms. Parker Robinson received the King M. Trimble Community Award for service to the Denver community.
Ms. Robinson received the first-ever Peaceful Heart Award from Mile-Hi Church, and was honored by the Colorado Gospel Hall of Fame, and the Metro State College Plain & Fancy Ball. In 2006, she received the “Jill” Award from the South Suburban Denver Chapter of Jack & Jill of America, Inc., honoring her work with young people. Also in 2006, Ms. Parker Robinson was honored as a “Pioneer In Black Dance” by the Dynamic Dance Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2007, she received the Huntington’s Disease of America Distinguished Leadership Award., the “Fairfax B. Holmes Community Award” from The Denver Links, Inc. and the “Unsung Heroes Mountain Award” from African American Leadership Institute. In 2008, she was awarded the President’s Award of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, the Civil Rights Award of the Anti-Defamation League, and the Civil Rights Medallion of the Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship program.
In 2009, Ms. Robinson received the Metropolitan State College of Denver’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Award for Service to the Community, and the Dr. Martin King Jr. / William “Bill” Roberts Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently, she was awarded the 2009 NEWSED Civil Rights Award, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award from the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver (2010).
Malik Robinson grew up and into his role at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in African Studies from Regis University, he officially began his tenure as Development Director winning national awards for the acclaimed Ensemble. Malik …
+Malik Robinson grew up and into his role at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in African Studies from Regis University, he officially began his tenure as Development Director winning national awards for the acclaimed Ensemble. Malik then moved on to Booking Manager increasing the Ensemble’s annual tours to 15 cities nationwide. Leading with the arts as a force for transformation and peace, he secured and lead tours to Israel and Egypt during times of heightened civil unrest. Before being named Executive Director in 2014, Malik developed and directed evidenced-based after-school programming recognized for positive findings. Malik is active on several arts organization boards and initiatives as well as a member of the Denver Metro Chamber’s Leadership Denver Class of 2015 and a Bonfils Stanton Foundation 2015 Livingston Fellow.
“Malik has demonstrated a keen ability to provide strong management while developing strategic partnerships to ensure the legacy of one of Colorado’s longest operating cultural arts institutions.”
–Gwen Brewer, CPRD Board Chair
Friday, October 2, 2020, 5280.com—Since founding her modern dance institution, the Denver icon has used her art to honor the African American experience—and as an agent for change. Now, as the nation reckons with systemic inequity, Cleo Parker Robinson reflects on her company’s milestone and the work that still lies ahead.
Read MoreDenver Post/TheKnow, August 20, 2020—....And you can celebrate with them by catching a performance of “Out of the Box”
Read MoreSunday Cover Story, Denver Post, June 28, 2020—The city’s identity is at stake as cultural nonprofits scramble to survive
by John Wenzel, Denver Post; Lisa Kennedy and Ray Mark Rinaldi, Special To The Denver Post
When crowds of people return without fear to public events, they’ll be hungry for musicals and symphonies, street festivals and First Fridays. But ready and willing as they are, Denver’s best-known cultural nonprofits have grown increasingly nervous about their uncertain future.
For the past three months, social distancing and thousands of canceled events have ravaged one of the city’s most vulnerable sectors. Cultural nonprofits rely on fundraising, tax dollars and people buying tickets to support live dance, theater, music and visual art. Since March, all are at risk.
Read MoreJune 25 through July 8, 2020, Streaming free of charge (https://www.coloradoballet.org/presenting)—During an unprecedented collaboration, Tour De Force, presented March 2019 with Colorado Ballet, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, and Wonderbound delighted sold-out audiences in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
For the first time, streaming free of charge through July 8, The MOVE/ment, choreographed by Cleo Parker Robinson, is presented by Colorado Ballet along with behind-the-scenes interviews with Cleo and dancers from Colorado Ballet and the Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble. The World Premiere of this work in March 2019 was a life-changing experience for all.
Read MoreOn June 6, RMPBS news producer Brian Willie sat down with Cleo Parker Robinson in an empty theatre and talked about marching and social justice.
"I've always protested from day one, and my company is a protest. I would say when I arrive in other countries or places I go—I got a posse, I got a gang, and they say 'you do? I say ' yeah' they're all dancers, they're all artists. But, we come in with an intention. We come in to bring beauty. I mean that's our intention. We come in to unify people, and we come in together—not alone. We come in as a group and we come in to make change. We come in to have a powerful experience that uplifts us. And so, I think marching uplifts people. I think it's uplifting them."
Read MoreJune 2020 | Cleo Parker Robinson participates in a seminal conversation with leaders in the International Association of Blacks in Dance (she is one of its founders).
In celebration of Juneteenth and Black Music Month, this IABD virtual roundtable discussion celebrates Black Dance and Black Music’s relationship with each other and its connection to Resistance, Revolution, Resilience and Remembrance.
Read MoreJune 2020 Issue | Cleo Parker Robinson is profiled in the June 2020 edition of Dance Magazine.
Read MoreMay 2020 Issue | Don't Even Try to Deny the Groovy Appeal of Micaela Taylor
In this article, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance is mentioned in a list of recent work commissioned with Micaela Taylor. ("Resist" was commissioned with a grant from the Doris Duke Foundation. It was performed July 2 and 3, 2019 at the American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C.)
Read MoreMay 16, 2020 | Denver, Colo. — Denver Arts and Venues presented the Five Points Jazz Festival in a virtual format this year with Rocky Mountain Public Media. Cleo Parker Robinson was interviewed (at approximately 25:00 timestamp). "Born in the Rossonian," it was her first home from the hospital, and a neighborhood in the center of her upbringing with art and culture. Journalist and co-host Tamara Banks introduces Cleo and shares her own connection with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Enjoy the great music and performances in this historic first virtual Five Points Jazz Festival.
Read MoreApril 30, 2020 | Denver, Colo. —CBS4 Denver, KCNC has been covering arts stories during the COVID-19 crisis.
Cleo Parker Robinson's interview with CBS4 addressed how performances have been cancelled.
In a second story, the SCFD Arts Through It All Campaign addresses funding for non-profit art organizations: https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/04/30/coronavirus-colorado-arts-through-it-all-museo-de-las-americas/?fbclid=IwAR2ZR9Z-UJ6XC3Tl-X-UzzZzc8bnqis2KGCpgUYcaR-OH9BghEFdacuja50#.Xqr4RNIgIvM.facebook
Read MoreApril 9, 2020 | Denver, Colo. — KDVR Fox 31 | What happens when one of our Zumba classes inspires a student? They dance!
Video of a Denver neighborhood and an Amazon Delivery Driver dancing together in a social-distancing Zumba class has gone viral, viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media, much to the surprise of the women featured in the video.
Holly Porterfield said her neighbor encouraged her to start a Zumba class for her neighborhood. Porterfield loves to dance and has been a long-time supporter of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and Denver Arts & Venues. While she trained as a Zumba instructor, she’d never taught a class. Turns out, Porterfield was an excellent teacher and her neighborhood latched on.
Read MoreApril 1, 2020 | Denver, Colo.,— The Denver Channel 7, KMGH conducted Cleo Parker Robinson's first interview on Zoom! CyberDance 2020 is the virtual academy connecting students and the community to Cleo Parker Robinson Dance.
Read MoreMarch 30, 2020 | Denver, Colo. —The Know/DenverPost.com
The renowned Five Points dance institution goes virtual ahead of its 50th anniversary
As dozens of dance studios sit idle across the metro area, one prominent company is moving deliberately into the virtual world.
To cope, Robinson’s nearly 50-year-old Five Points-neighborhood institution — known for its focus on African-American stories — on Monday launched its Cyber Dance 2020 program.
September 20, 2019 | The Know Denver Post
Cleo Parker Robinson counts herself lucky to have gotten so much of late choreographer Donald McKayle’s work, including his final piece.
But as is often said, the harder you work, the luckier you get.
“The first time my (dancers) ran it on Aug. 20, I thought they were going to die,” Robinson said with a laugh over the phone last week. “And I thought, ‘Oh my God, we have an entire performance before we even get to this piece!’ But it was so moving, emotionally. People in the room were crying and couldn’t breathe. You felt like you were in the middle of a hurricane.”
Read MoreSeptember 17, 2019 — Social justice drives Cleo Parker Robinson Dance productions. And the company's latest, Rise and Resist — an evening of five dance numbers including pieces from 1947 as well as contemporary works — is no exception. It covers a wide swath of history, including stories about the lifelong struggles of entertainer James Brown, murders by the Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction-era South, and the current Syrian refugee crisis.
Read MoreJuly 5, 2019 | REVIEW | IndyWeek, Raleigh-Durham, NC — There are rare, transcendent moments when art is imperative, and the audience becomes a collective witness to a communion that leaves them cleansed, at least momentarily, and enlightened.
Such was the case at Duke’s Reynolds Industries Theater on Tuesday night during the American Dance Festival performance by Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. The legendary choreographer and dancer’s Denver-based company offered a stunning and inspiring tribute to several masters of the black tradition, including Katherine Dunham, Talley Beatty, and Donald McKayle.
Read MoreFebruary 20, 2019 | Dance/USA
Washington, DC – From the Green Room continues its feature, Leadership Corner, disseminating the voices and experiences of leaders in the professional dance field across the United States.
October 5, 2018 | Denver Business Journal
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance looks to future, “We see people soar and become leaders.”
September 28, 2018 | 9News
Nationally-known dancer and choreographer Cleo Parker Robinson said that she will be passing on one of her signature dances, Barrel House Blues, to another dancer. She said this does not mean retirement--it's merely passing the torch.
September 28, 2018 | Westword
A two-minute ragtime shimmy choreographed by Katherine Dunham in 1938, “Barrelhouse Blues” was always meant to capture the moment when a lonely old woman channels her lost youth through dance.
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