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 five pillars of the organization, namely, the CPRD Ensemble, Academy, Theatre, Education Programs and Art in Wellbeing. 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.
Photo: Bamboula: Musician’s Brew, choreographed by Millicent Johnnie. Image: Jerry Metellus.
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance: 52 Years as a cultural anchor in Denver. We invite you to our Year In Review (click on the link to the right). Photo: Martha Wirth.
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
Premiere broadcast, September 21, 2023. Denver, Colo. (Access on YouTube: https://www.pbs.org/video/the-fabulous-cleo-gguulw/) — Meet Cleo Parker Robinson, a pioneer for Black excellence. Throughout her 53-year career, Cleo has become a cultural ambassador that has influenced the world of dance, not only in Denver, but across the globe. She has paved the way for many generations of talented dancers to take center stage and has been a true pillar of the Five Points community for over five decades.
Read Moreby Lisa Kennedy, Special to The Denver Post, September 14, 2023. — (subtitle) Cleo Parker Robinson Dance works with Norwegian choreographer Thomas Talawa Prestø
On a summer afternoon, Norwegian choreographer Thomas Talawa Prestø was watching as two dancers from his Oslo-based company, Tabanka Dance Ensemble, put another dance company’s artists through the paces of one of his new works. Bob Marley played over the speaker system in the rehearsal room of the Five Points home of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance.
Read MoreDenver Urban Spectrum, September 1, 2023 — THe 13th Annual Dancing with the Denver Stars (DWTDS) gala was held on August 12 at the Denver Hilton City Center ballroom. The event, along with a paddle-raise fundraiser hosted by professional broadcaster and former Denver Broncos running back, Reggie Rivers, raised $150,000 to support Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s (CPRD) dance and cultural outreach in schools. The year’s event featured 13 stars, selected for their professional and philanthropic contributions to Denver. Colorado Special Olympics medialist, Cody Fields, and former Denver Broncos running back, Terrell Davis, headlined the event.
Read Moreby Libby Smith | August 18, 2023 | Denver, Colo. — (Back to School/Dancing With The Denver Stars) | KCNC Channel 4 CBS Colorado)
Dancing with the Denver Stars is a big fundraiser for the education programming at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. The dance company provides dance education in dozens of schools across the Metro Area.
The gala was held on Saturday, August 13, 2023. CBS News Colorado's Michelle Griego was among the 13 stars who participated. Former Broncos running back Terrell Davis also took the stage.
But for one star taking on the challenge of Dancing with the Denver Stars brought all the aspects of her life together....
Read Moreby Chancy J. Gatlin | Life on Capitol Hill | Colorado Community Media (syndication throughout Denver Metro area) August 2, 2023 — (subtitle) Cleo Parker Robinson Dance partners with Scandinavian choreographer for September performance.
Cleo Parker Robinson grew up in the historic Rossonian Hotel in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, the Rossonian Hotel catered to touring Black musicians during segregation. Parker Robinson lived in an apartment at the hotel, above a jazz lounge that hosted legendary Black musicians like Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday....
Read Moreby Kate Tracy | Denver Business Journal | Updated May 31, 2023 — Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, a 52-year-old dance and arts nonprofit in Denver, is embarking on an expansion of its current Five Points home at 119 Park Ave. West.
At the end of March, the organization filed plans with the city for the Cleo Center for the Healing Arts, a 23,000-square-foot addition to its current home at a former Shorter AME church at the corner of Park Avenue West, East 20th Avenue and Washington Street. Plans indicate the addition will include a new 240-seat dance theater with retractable seating so that the dance company can use the space for classes or other needs.
May 25, 2023 | Denver, Colo. — (Groundblessing ceremony) A request to Mother Earth for permission, and a blessing for an expansion....(2:15 minutes | KCNC Channel 4 CBS Colorado)
Read Moreby Eden Lane, Colorado Public Radio | March 29, 2023 | Fresh off receiving the National Medal of the Arts, Denver's Cleo Parker Robinson is launching a special event with the Colorado Symphony.
Denver dance pioneer Parker Robinson and The International Association of Blacks in Dance, the group she co-founded, were awarded a National Medal of the Arts at the White House last week.
Following the White House ceremony and celebrations, Parker Robinson said she was honored to be among those recognized....
Read Moreby John Moore | March 24, 2023; updated May 24 | Denver, Colo. — Denver’s Cleo Parker Robinson was one of five Black female dance pioneers who were presented the 2023 National Medal of Arts from President Joe Biden in a White House ceremony on Tuesday.
The collective medal officially went to The International Association of Blacks in Dance, which since 1991 has promoted dance by people of African ancestry through teaching, training, performance and cultural exchanges.
Read MoreDenver, Colo., January 27, 2023. — Inclusion and diversity is deeply embedded in the African Chamber of Commerce Colorado USA mantra. On Jan. 27, a Friday evening at Infinity Park Event Center, ACCCOUSA hosted its second annual business awards reception....
Read MorePhotos including the 31st Season of "Granny Dances To A Holiday Drum," celebrating holidays around the world. — By Denver Post photographer Helen Richardson
Read MoreDenver Gazette, September 22, 2022 by John Moore — Over the past 52 years, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance has pulled off some remarkable collaborations, not only with local arts organizations but with groups from all over the world.
“Sacred Spaces” was like a human chain of sadness, celebration and resilience linking Denver in 1925 to Louisiana in 2019 – bookends of a seemingly never-ending series of Black church burnings in America that began exactly 200 years ago in Charleston, S.C.
Read MoreCountry Roads Magazine, August 22, 2022, by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot — “Pastor, the church is gone,” were the words coming through Kyle Sylvester’s phone at 2:30 am on March 27, 2019.
“What did you say?”
Read More