CUNY Dance Initiative Announces May Performances
Company:
CUNY Dance Initiative
The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an expansive program providing New York City choreographers and dance companies with creative residencies on CUNY college campuses, announces public performances in May 2025.
This season, the CUNY Dance Initiative is underwriting residencies for 24 early- to mid-career choreographers at 13 CUNY colleges and three partner arts organizations in all five boroughs. CDI residencies run through June 30, 2025, with public performances in May by Michael Greenberg, Juan Usera y La Tribu del Juey Sambuco, andDancers Unlimited (details below).
Michael Greenberg
Intuitive Imprints: an exploration of sense and memory
Saturday, May 3 at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Cohen Library at City College of New York (West Harlem)
Free with RSVP
Citycollegecenterforthearts.org
Choreographer and dancer Michael Greenberg creates a site-specific work for City College’s soaring Cohen Library. Intuitive Imprints delves into the subconscious pathways between physical sensation and recollection. Dancers embody fleeting impressions—both personal and collective—creating a layered landscape of touch, presence, and resonance.
Juan Usera y La Tribu del Juey Sambuco (The Sambuco Tribe)
Caribeando
Saturday, May 10 at 2:00 p.m.
Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture (Bronx)
$12 general / $10 senior / $5 youth
hostos.cuny.edu/culturearts/
Juan Usera y La Tribu del Juey (The Sambuco Tribe) celebrate the Caribbean in an all-ages show that combines music, dance, and storytelling. Caribeando features traditional Caribbean rhythms and dances such as bomba, plena, guaracha, jazz, and changüí, including present-day variations like bomba-reggaeton, all of which trace their origins back to West Africa. The event will showcase choreographed dances as well as traditional solo and couple performances, offering a vibrant celebration of Caribbean culture and its rich artistic heritage.
Dancers Unlimited
REST (studio showing)
Saturday, May 17 at 2:00 p.m.
Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (Staten Island)
$10 general / $8 members
snug-harbor.org/event/pass-edible-tales-rest-by-dancers-unlimited/
Dancers Unlimited concludes their month-long CUNY Dance Initiative residency at Snug Harbor with a studio showing of Edible Tales: REST. Inspired by Tricia Hersey’s Rest is Resistance, Dancers Unlimited explores ideas centering rest as a radical act of liberation. Dancers Unlimited centers community engagement as a key part of their creative process, and this interactive work offers rest through sound, movement, and collective care. This residency is a collaboration between the College of Staten Island and Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Dancers Unlimited is a bi-coastal company based in NYC & Hawai’i. DU creates authentic moveMEANT narratives for community advancement through creative collaboration, community engagement, and social justice work. Established in 2009, the company has presented work in festivals and showings in Hawa’i, NYC and Asia, including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Hawai’i Contemporary, shanghai world expo, Battery Dance Festival and La Mama moves! Dance Festival. Dancers Unlimited centers community engagement as a key part of our creative process. Our artistic voice blends Contemporary, Street and Club dance styles while being rooted in cultural practices. Our work seeks to inspire healing, facilitate dialogues and elevate authentic expressions.
Juan Usera is an Afro-Puerto Rican artist and cultural bearer, a fourth-generation practitioner skilled in dance, percussion, teaching, and community education. He holds degrees in Education, History, and Dance from the University of Puerto Rico, as well as a Master’s in Performance Studies from NYU. His academic work focuses on Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Latin American music and culture, with research interests that include history, race and ethnicity, performance, music, dance, and belief systems. Usera founded and directs La Tribu del Juey Sambuco (The Sambuco Tribe), an Afro-Caribbean music and dance ensemble offering performances, workshops, and residencies. The ensemble has performed at notable venues such as Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing. His work has received support from the Bronx Council on the Arts and the NYSCA Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant.
Michael Greenberg is a dancer and choreographer from New York City. He began his training at the Ailey School in 2004 and went on to study dance at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. Upon graduating from LaGuardia High School he received the Eleo Pomare scholarship in Choreography. Michael received his BFA from NYU Tisch in 2017. Michael has performed with Loni Landon Dance Projects, Nicole Von Arx (NVA & Guests), Kinesis Project Dance Theater, Obremski/Works and White Wave Dance company. In 2019 Michael joined the First National Tour of Fiddler on the Roof with choreography by Hofesh Shechter. Michael then joined NW Dance Project in 2023. His choreographic work has been shown at: INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival (2018), WestFest Dance Festival (2018), Van Alen Institute: City Making from the Outside In (2018), the SoloDuo Festival (2018), and LaGuardia High School's Senior Dancer Concert (2021 and 2022).
ABOUT THE CUNY DANCE INITIATIVE
In 2024, the CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI) marked a decade of supporting the NYC dance field. 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 led to CDI’s formal launch in 2014. Since then, CDI has become a key player in New York City’s performing arts ecosystem, leading a consortium of 13 CUNY colleges and three arts organizations to host 20+ residencies for NYC choreographers and dance companies each year. In the past 10 years, CDI has granted 247 residencies to emerging and established choreographers, providing invaluable resources to artists, while enhancing CUNY students’ education and cultural experiences.
The CUNY Dance Initiative receives major support from The Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Howard Gilman 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. CDI is spearheaded by The Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative
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