Robin Becker Dance is a dance company founded in 1987 under the artistic direction of Robin Becker. Robin Becker Dance presents performances, workshops, community dialogues, and activities that support the ongoing exploration of the human psyche, soul, and spirit through movement. The organization is led by the belief that who we are and how we think are shaped by how we move. Movement frees personal expression, nourishes creativity, and deepens interconnectedness and community. We are dedicated to creating works that explore the limitless possibilities of movement, artistry, science, and healing through performance, educational workshops and movement retreats.
The Company has an extensive repertory of work inspired by world traditions, Native American culture, and the work of the 13th century mystical poet Jelaluddin Rumi. Robin Becker Dance is internationally renowned for its contemplative and strikingly beautiful movement. In the tradition of those who choreograph from the depths of the unconscious, the choreography speaks with power and immediacy.
The Company of seven dancers is distinguished in New York City with performances at Florence Gould Hall, The Union Theater at the University of Madison, WI, Georgetown University, Westpoint Military Academy, the Joyce Theater's Altogether Different Series, the Harkness Dance Project's Playhouse 91 series, the Fiorello Festival, three seasons at St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery, the Merce Cunningham Studio Theater, and the opening performance series of The Joyce Soho. Other highlights include a collaborative work with Roberta Flack for Breast Cancer Research with costumes created by Nicole Miller.
The company's current work Into Sunlight premiered in the spring of 2011 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and at Hofstra University, where the dance was the centerpiece for interdisciplinary conferences: Into Sunlight: The Impact of War on the Social Body from Vietnam to the Present. Subsequent performances were at Georgetown University and at Stony Brook University. The company was in residence at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville, NY during the spring of 2012. That residency culminated in performances of Into Sunlight. In 2015, the company was invited to perform Into Sunlight in three cities in Vietnam in celebration of the 20th anniversary of renewed diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam.
In 2017, a documentary film about Into Sunlight premiered at the Lincoln Center Dance on Camera Festival. Robin Becker Dance has been the recipient of two National Endowment of the Arts awards in 2016 and 2017 to further the company’s veteran/ military outreach program. In 2016, the company was awarded a grant from the Disabled Veteran’s National Foundation to also support its veteran/military outreach.
It is one thing to hit on a timeless theme...
it is quite another to bring true art to the stage. That is what Robin and the dancers are doing. This is a major work that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible on the largest possible stages. It is my deep hope that they get the support and acknowledgment they deserve.
-David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author
They Marched Into Sunlight
Breathtaking...
It’s always a pleasure to experience a work that truly shines.
- Carmel Morgan, BALLET DANCE MAGAZINE
Again we had power, ideas, attention to detail...
and stimulating groupings given smooth movement and free transitions. The extraordinary work of the dancers themselves...is strongly to be celebrated.
- Bert Wechsler, ATTITUDE MAGAZINE
Becker possesses an eye, a feel, a love...
and knowledge of movement, which she imparts to a splendid ensemble of dancers.
- Phyllis Goldman, BACK STAGE