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
Podcast with Chris Carter and Cleo Parker Robinson, February 1, 2023. — Hi, everybody! This is Chris Carter, executive director at The Bankhead Theater, and today I am talking to Cleo Parker Robinson, the founder of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. And we’re very happy now to have Cleo with us today.
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 MoreCBS4 Denver, KCNC TV, September 17, 2022; detailed report by Audra Streetman and Mekialaya White — Three predominately Black churches in Louisiana were set on fire in 2019. In 1925, Shorter A.M.E. Church in Denver's Five Points Neighborhood was burned to the ground allegedly by the KKK.
The 2019 church fires, as well as, the Shorter Church building's history with fire, inspired the new dance collaboration "Sacred Spaces?".
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 MoreBerkshire Edge, Becket, Mass., August 22, 2022 by Caroline and Eli Newberger; illustrations by Caroline Newberger. While introducing the performance, Jacob’s Pillow President and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge noted that this performance represented both the 50th anniversary of The Cleo Parker Dance Ensemble—postponed from 2020 like so much else in the arts world—and the 90th anniversary of the Pillow. The Ensemble, she noted, first performed here in 1976, with a work by Katherine Dunham.
Read MoreBoston Globe Becket, Mass., Updated August 18, 2022 by Janine Parker. The program the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble brings to Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival this week offers a sampler of the 52-year-old company’s history, as well as Modern dance history, in choreography by iconic figures. In addition to Robinson, works by Katherine Dunham and Donald McKayle are on the program —newer generations of dancemakers are also given a place at this prominent table.
Read MoreTheGrio.com August 15, 2022 by Kayla Grant — Beginning on August 17, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble will return to the famed Jacob’s Pillow in Beckett, Mass. during its 50th anniversary season with six performances that explore emotion, femininity, war, race, and elegance.
“That is wild, that we haven’t been there in 20 years,” the company’s founder and Artistic Director Cleo Parker Robinson said in a recent interview with theGrio. “We’re thrilled [that] the community gets to see us at Jacob’s Pillow after all these years.”
Read Moreby Joanne Davidson, special to Colorado Politics Non-Profit Report, Denver, Colo., August 15, 2022 — The theme for the 12th edition of Dancing with the Denver Stars, the signature fundraise for Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, was A Night of Wonder. It was chosen because the evening would feature the music of the incomparable Stevie Wonder.
“I’m happy to share the gift that God gave me,” Wonder said as he thanked CPRD for choosing his music for the gala.
“We’ve danced to Stevie Wonder’s music since we were 12, and we’re still dancing to it today,” observed Robinson.
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