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: 54 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 and artistic director of the 54-year-old Denver-based artistic institution, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (CPRD), leading a professional Ensemble (CPRDE), Cleo II (her 2nd company), a Youth Ensemble, an Academy of Dance, an International Summer Dance …
+Cleo Parker Robinson is founder and artistic director of the 54-year-old Denver-based artistic institution, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (CPRD), leading a professional Ensemble (CPRDE), Cleo II (her 2nd company), a Youth Ensemble, an Academy of Dance, an International Summer Dance Institute, a 240-seat theatre, and numerous community outreach programs nationally and internationally. She has received honors and awards from corporate, civic, community, and artistic entities world-wide, bringing CPRDE to myriad organizations and venues for performances, teaching residencies and community engagement programming. A master teacher/choreographer and cultural ambassador, she and CPRDE have performed nationwide and throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, and the African continent, with their most recent international tours taking them to Bogota, Colombia in Spring of 2019 and Mexico in Fall 2019 and again in Fall of 2024.
Ms. Parker Robinson’s awards and honors include the Colorado Governor’s Award for Excellence (1974), Denver 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 an Honorary Doctorates from Denver University (1991), an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Colorado College (2003), an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Regis University in Denver (2008), an Alumni Award from University of Denver (2021), the 2020 Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honous Causa from CU Boulder, and was named an Honorary Member of the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (2021).
In 1991, Ms. Parker served on the task force creating a permanent location for the Denver School of the Arts (DSA), Denver’s first performing arts magnet school, and was subsequently honored In September 2017 at their 7th Annual Fall Gala, in recognition of her long-term commitment to excellence in arts education. She is also co-founder of the National Bahamian Dance Company, based in Nassau. In 2011, Ms. Parker Robinson was voted an Honorary Lifetime Trustee of the Denver Performing Arts Complex, in recognition of her longtime commitment and lasting impact. In June 2017, she received the highly prestigious DanceUSA Honor Award and in September 2017, the Randy Weeks Arts Leadership Award from the Denver School of the Arts. In March 2023, Ms. Parker Robinson, along with the other four founders of the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), was honored at the White House as the IABD received the 2021 National Medal of the Arts. In 2024, she was named as the Professor for the Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship.
Ms. Robinson has served on NEA panels on Dance, Expansion Arts, Arts America, and Inter-Arts panels for the USIS, and for the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts as well as other national task forces, boards, and committees on the arts. In April 1999, she was appointed by then-President William Jefferson Clinton, with Senate confirmation, to serve for four years on the National Council on the Arts, a 14-member panel advising the Chairman of the NEA on agency policy and programs, evaluating and making recommendations on grant applications.
Since 2011, Ms. Parker Robinson has significantly returned to her greatest passion as a choreographer, creating and presenting Dreamcatchers: The Untold Stories of the Americas and the world premiere of her Romeo and Juliet, in collaboration with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Her work On the Edge… Reaching to Higher Ground premiered in October of 2014 in answer to resurging racial and human rights infractions world-wide. In Spring 2017, she re-staged two works, melding classical and jazz composition with the power, passion and beauty of modern dance – Romeo and Juliet and Porgy and Bess. Fall 2017 saw the premiere of Copacetic: A Tribute to Jonathon “JP” Parker, honoring her late father. In Spring of 2018, she premiered Lark Ascending in collaboration with the Boulder Philharmonic. Her Rhapsody in Black, created in collaboration with CPRD Associate Artistic Director, Winifred R. Harris, premiered at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, University of Denver. In January 2019, in collaboration with the Denver Brass, she choreographed an innovative interpretation of Bernstein’s On the Town and Spring 2019 saw a collaboration with the Colorado Ballet entitled The MOVE/ment as part of the Tour de Force series at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Center for the Performing Arts. In 2019, she traveled to UMKC, Kansas City, to set a work on the students of CPRDE alum Gary Abbot, entitled Check Cashing Day in tribute to the jazz genius of Bobby Watson and Milt Abel. In August 2021, she premiered Standing On the Shoulders, a work commissioned by the Vail Dance Festival. September 2021 saw the debut of her work Freedom Dance, created in collaboration with jazz icon Dianne Reeves and CPRD co-founder and poet, Schyleen Qualls and in October 2021, she premiered R.I.Power, an original work commissioned by the Colorado College Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs. Her newest work, Sacred Spaces?, set to an original score by Adonis Rose, Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, premiered in September 2022 at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. September 2023 saw the reprise of her innovative interpretation of The Firebird, set amidst the pantheon and legacy of Hawaiian culture. In October 2023, she choreographed and co-produced the production of Mozart Requiem Evermore in collaboration with Dr. Dennis Law.
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
Colorado Public Radio, KCFR 90.1 FM | Colorado Matters news magazine with Chandra Thomas-Whitfield — Denver, Colo., May 23, 2024 — (Interviews include Cleo Parker Robinson; Malik Robinson; Virginia Johnsson/Dance Theatre of Harlem; Lula Washington/Lula Washington Dance; and Joan Myers Brown/Philadanco! and IABD Founder). lToday we talk with Karlya Shelton-Benjamin, one of “The Swans of Harlem,” a Denver native featured in a new book about these pioneering ballerinas and their effort to make sure their history is not overlooked or forgotten. Then, Denver's iconic Cleo Parker Robinson sees her dream come true.
Read More“CPRD is more than just a dance company. It is an institution of higher being and purpose.”—Denverite, May 16, 2024 by Isaac Vargas—
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance broke ground Wednesday on a 25,000-square-foot, four-level modern expansion adjacent to its historic headquarters.
A crowd of cultural and civic leaders, philanthropic and community supporters and a family of current and former dancers joined the organization's iconic namesake at the Center for the Healing Arts groundbreaking.
Read More2024 Spring Concert News: The artist is breaking ground and still groundbreaking—Denver Post, March 5, 2024 by Lisa Kennedy—
A short time after Cleo Parker Robinson was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2021 — along with the four other founders of the International Association of Blacks in Dance — she did a little dance in the White House. No surprise, really: Even at 75, the Denver-based choreographer and cultural doyen is so often in motion.
Read MoreCPRD Announces Spring Concert, "Legacy: Opening the Way" — Denver Urban Spectrum May 2024 Edition, p 25—
Heralding both Mother’s Day and an upcoming groundbreaking celebration, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance 2024 Spring Concert, Legacy: Opening the Way reflects on guides and guardians, ancestors and supporters who have brought CPRD through where it is today...
Read MoreMetropolitan State University of Denver, March 4, 2024 —
The University will celebrate the dance icon and social-justice advocate with two keynote addresses and a community performance.
Growing up during the Jim Crow era, Cleo Parker Robinson learned not to take her freedom for granted. Parker Robinson, founder and artistic director of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance company, has since dedicated her life to making sure young people understand that movement is a right that everyone deserves.
Parker Robinson’s life mission will be honored March 10-12 at Metropolitan State University of Denver’s 43rd annual Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship.
CBS4Colorado, January 23, 2024. Denver, Colo., Webstory by Libby Smith/CBSColorado. Interview with Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) Executive Director Christine Crampton Day and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance President/CEO Malik Robinson .
"The $2.6 billion in economic activity that is generated from out non-profit arts and cultural sector in the Denver Metro region is a result of both direct and indirect economic activity. So, when you think of direct, think of operations, ticket sales, jobs and personnel in the sector. Whereas indirect is someone come to a show in Denver and they spend money at a restaurant or a hotel, that's more indirect spending," said Christin Crampton Day, Executive Director of the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts.
Denver Gazette, January 15, 2024. Denver, Colo., by John Moore Arts Journalist. 'Stand up for something that is righteous with strength and integrity,' legendary dancer Cleo Parker Robinson tells young people on eve of MLK birthday....
Last week, I was hanging out with some of my favorite people: Kids, all 10 or 11. The only people in my life who are never mad at me. It was a birthday party. Speaking of birthdays, one casually asked the others what they would be doing with their day off from school Monday for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Only she didn’t say his name. She said the initials – out of order. ....
Read MoreEditorial Page Commentary, December 30, 2023. Vail, Colo. by Jay Wissot— I couldn’t bear listening to Mariah Carey tell me for the thousandth time that all she wants for Christmas is me so I sauntered over on Dec. 8 to the Cleo Parker Dance Theater in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood to watch an electrifying performance of “Granny Dances To A Holiday Drum.” To a modern dance lover like myself not knowing who Cleo Parker Robinson is would be like a rabid football fan not knowing anything about Tom Brady. She is as much a legendary figure in the annals of modern dance in this country as Brady was in the hierarchy of great NFL quarterbacks. Brady played professional football for 23 seasons before retiring at the age of 45. The “Grande Dame of Dance’s” legacy is longer than Brady’s by the length of two football fields. ....
Read MoreCBS Colorado KCNC Channel 4, December 1, 2023. Denver, Colo. — Cast members a part of "Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum" discuss the musical as it is set to be shown at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance.
Read MorePremiere 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 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 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