UNSTOPPABLE LEGACY Artistic and Production Team
CleoParkerRobinson Founder/ArtisticDirector/Producer/Director/Choreographer
WinifredR.Harris AssociateArtisticDirector/Choreographer
RhettaShead VPofTheatreOperations/ProductionDirector
CedricD.Hall CleoIIRehearsalDirector
MichaelBattle WardrobeSupervisor
CaeliBlake AssistantWardrobeSupervisor
GabrielaMaduro PropsSupervisor
ConorMorford TechnicalDirector
AnastaziaConey SeniorTechnician/LightingDesigner
MaryHart PlaybillEditor/VolunteerCoordinator
AmeliaDietz-Rowe GraphicDesign/PlaybillDesign
MicahBursh GroupSalesCoordinator/BoxOfficeManager
DavidAndrews ArchivalVideographer
StanObert CPRDPhotographer
EliLynchandPaulinaNunez StageManagers
ShaeIsaacs HouseManager
Founder/ArtisticDirector/Choreographer/Producer
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 Africa 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 In early summer of 2025, Ms. Parker Robinson will be part of an artistic consortium in Bahia, Brazil, as a guest of the internationally renowned Sacatar Institute. 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.
Two-time “Bessie Award” winner, Hope Boykin was an original member of Complexions, danced with Philadanco, and retired from twenty years as a member of The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2020. Hope has choreographed for numerous universities and dance companies including The Juilliard School, Kent State, USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, Philadanco, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Ballet X, Ballet Black of London, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, Collage Dance Collective, and in 2024 created her fourth work for the Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater,withanewworkforPaulTaylortopremiereattheKennedyCenterin2025.
Infallof2023,HopewasfeaturedintheNYTimesandonthecoverofDanceMagazinein recognitionofherachievementsasacreator,mover,maker,andmotivator highlightingStatesOf Hope,afullyscripted,evening-length,newdancetheaterwork,whichpremieredatTheJoyce Theatertomuchacclaim Hopepremiered“TheOtherSide,”aco-commissionwiththeKennedy Center,in2021,witha2024returnfortheKennedyCenterandaNewYorkpremiereatBAMthe BrooklynAcademyofMusic.“TheOtherSide”bringstheaward-winningchildren’sbook,by JacquelineWoodson,tolifeonstage.Hopecontinuestobuildonherwork,asawriter;blending herwordsandcadenceasthefoundationofherdevelopingmovement-language Asadirector anddance-makerHopereceivedagrantfromtheMellonFoundationforher#BoykinBubble residencyandinfallof2021shepremiered“AnEveningofHope”at92NYinNewYorkCity.Hope released“BeautySize&Color”ashortfilmcommentingonwhathaschangedinthefirsttwenty yearsofthe21stcenturyonPBS.orgwhichwasnominatedfora2023NYEmmyAward,aswellas aweekendofherownwork,MomentsByHope,...aconcert.Hope’spassionfordanceeducation ishighlightedassheservesasArtisticAdvisorforDanceEducationfortheKennedyCenterand ArtisticLeadfortheKennedyCenterDanceLab SheisArtist-In-ResidenceatUSCGlorya KaufmanSchoolofDanceandreceiedtheCenterforBalletandtheArtsatNYUFellowshipfor 2022-23.In2024,Hopefoundednot-for-profitHBArtsCollectiveInc.,acollaborativespace wherecreatorsrefinetheircraft,buildcommunity,andshapethefutureinmusic,film,theater, anddance Hopewasnominatedforthe2024WashingtonDCMayorsAwards,andhonoredas collaboratorAlCrawford,HBArtsCollectivejoinedthe yLabcohort.
CPRD Associate Artistic Director
Ms. Harris, choreographer, artist, teacher, and community activist has created a significant body of work with a strong balance of technical prowess and gestural expression. Having trained under Cleo Parker Robinson, she danced professionally for ten years with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble before moving on to Dallas Black Dance Theater and a solo stint in New York and abroad. In October 1991, she relocated to Los Angeles, CA, founding her own awardnominated contemporary modern dance company.
In recognition of her dedication and commitment to underprivileged youth, Ms. Harris received several awards from the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles for her teaching efforts within that community Having served on faculty at various universities and studios nationwide, including Cal Arts (her alma mater), Cal State Los Angeles and Spelman College, she returned to Cleo Parker Robinson Dance in 2010 as Ensemble Rehearsal Director and became Associate Artistic Director in 2014. A number of her innovative works are part of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble's repertoire.
…the way, I AM on.
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance World Premiere, May 2025
“...the way, I AM on. shares the story of (H)ope working, knowing, and ever reaching for clarity. The path, narrow and correct, will lead way to understanding, where and how my Help meets me. ”
Choreographer | Hope Boykin
Music | Ali Jackson, Bill Laurance
Lighting Design | Anasztazia Coney
Costume Concept & Construction | Caeli Blake, DeBorah Powell Dancers | Caeli Blake, Corey Boatner, Jasmine Francisco, Samiyah Lynnice Lamar D. Rogers, Lauren Slaughter
Strange Fruit | Excerpt from Southland
World Premiere Santiago, Chile, January 1951 North American Premiere, September 2012
Banned by the U.S. Government after its premiere in Chile, Southland was reconstructed and produced for the first time in this country by Cleo Parker Robinson Dance in September 2012, requiring a full year of “artistic archeology” specific to the work since its elements had been scattered to artistic institutions around the world, including Chile, Paris, and St. Louis.
“The man who truly loves his country is the man who is able to see it in the bad as well as the good and seeing the bad declaim it, at the cost of liberty or life.
This is the story of no actual lynching in the Southern States of America, and still it is the story of every one of them. Though I have not smelled the smell of burning flesh, and have never seen a black body swaying from a Southern tree, I have felt these things in spirit… Through the creative artist comes the need to show this thing to the world, hoping that by exposing the ill, the conscience of the many will protest.”
Katherine Dunham
Creator & Choreographer | Katherine Dunham
Original Score | Dino di Stefano
Original Set and Costume Design | John Pratt
Artistic Advisors | Julie Robinson Belafonte, Theodore “Theo” H. Jamison
Lighting Adaptation | Anastazia Coney
Costume Consultant | Lara “La” Kirksey
Costume Adaptation & Construction | Dot Valle-Campbell, Sharelle’s of Denver
Musical Director | Michael A. Williams
Vocalist | Mary Louise Lee
Soloist | Caeli Blake
Internal Landscapes
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance World Premiere, May 2025
“Internal Landscapes is an exploration of emotions, relationships, and characteristics of human interaction. Look deep or scratch the surface, our internal landscapes are a tranquil, peaceful place - or a landmine of emotions. Explosive warm drops of sadness or an internal sight signing of the soul. Yet, all at once. Maybe something seeps in that was said or thought. Our eyes open, projectors of our surroundings and our inter thoughts. We may shield ourselves for “safety” or open to experience. Note your reaction to the shifting foundation of current knowing and change. Can you take ownership of your joy or discomfort? In the multitude of textures that appear in, on, and around us all. Our Internal Landscapes don’t necessarily appear one at a time or move us with energy that is the same as the person next to us. Yet there is always a fountain of Joy that can help replenish us anytime we choose to drink from it.”
Winifred R. Harris
Choreographer | Winifred R. Harris
Music | Jamey Hadad, Henning Fuchs, Abel Selaocoe
Lighting Design | Anastazia Coney
Costume Design | Winifred R. Harris
Costume Construction | DeBorah Powell
Dancers | Samiyah Lynnice (Joy), Lauren Slaughter (Connection), Corey Boatner (Freedom Flight), Caeli Blake (Knowing), Michael Battle, Adrian Dominguez, Jasmine Francisco, Devrae Jefferson, Lamar D. Rogers, Gabriela Maduro
Intermission
Excerpts from Mary Lou’s Mass
Originally titled Mass for Peace 1959 – 1970, Revised and renamed 1971
For Mary Lou Williams, Jazz and Catholicism were in harmony. The Mass was a way for her to capture the way she felt when praying, and to reach out to her community, particularly children, and to
The full mass consists of twenty-three s ten of those sections.
Artistic Director & Choreographer | Cle
Composer | Mary Lou Williams
Music and Production Advisor | Father
Original Lighting Design | Keith Rice
Lighting Adaptation | Anastazia Coney
Original Costume Design | Lara “La” Kir
Costume Adaptation | Michael Battle, C
Costume Construction | DeBorah Powe
Featured Artists:
Carmen Lundy | Vocal Soloist
Geri Allen | Pianist
Vicki Burrichter | Music Director and Ch
Darryl Walker | Assistant Choral Master
Featured Dancers
Jasmine Francisco | Mary Lou Williams
Adrian Dominguez | The Priest
Lamar D. Rogers | Rev. Dr. Martin Luthe
Devrae Jefferson | El Hajj Malik El Shaba
Samiyah Lynnice | The Virgin Mary
The Ensemble | Acolytes and Consolers
