Denise Roberts Hurlin

Denise Roberts Hurlin’s dedication to dance as an artist, activist, and administrator spans nearly four decades. A founding member of Parsons Dance, she was part of the company from 1986 to 1989. She then went on to a sixyear career as a dancer with Paul Taylor Dance Company. During this time, her artistry was continually acknowledged, perhaps most notably when she was named Outstanding Performer of 1994 by dance historian and critic Joan Acocella.

In 1991, Hurlin and fellow Paul Taylor dancer Hernando Cortez gathered company members to discuss what they could do to help their many colleagues who were dying of AIDS. The result was the creation of Dancers Responding to AIDS. In 1993, DRA because a program of Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS. To this day, Hurlin continues to lead DRA as a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, a remarkable initiative that has raised over $300 million to help people throughout the U.S. receive much needed lifesaving medications, healthcare, nutritious meals, counseling, and emergency financial assistance.

Broadway Cares also offers essential support to more than 470 AIDS and family service organizations and provides critical support for social service programs of The Entertainment Community Fund such as The Dancers’ Resource, The Women’s Health Initiative, and The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts.

Under Hurlin’s leadership, DRA has produced over 150 performance-based fundraising events, including the annual Fire Island Festival that, for over 25 years, has taken place in a specially built theater overlooking Long Island’s Great South Bay, and the Hudson Valley Festival, set in a 19th century warehouse in Catskill,

NY. Also on DRA’s list of notable events is Stars of Tomorrow... giving back today, a young dancer benefit bringing together over 300 dancers from dance schools in the tri-state area that Hurlin has produced at Purchase College’s Performing Arts Center for over 15 years.

Hurlin is an inaugural member and still serves on the advisory council for The Dancers’ Resource, a program of The Entertainment Community Fund. She also sits on the Presenters Council for Dance USA. Among her many well-deserved accolades, she has received a Bessie Award Special Citation; she was presented with the 2017 Martha Hill Dance Fund Mid-Career Award; and she was honored with the 2021 President’s Award for Distinguished Alumni from Purchase College, where she received her BFA in Dance.

Hurlin is married to Broadway Cares Production Manager Nathan Hurlin. They are proud parents of Henry and Catherine, a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre.