About Freespace Dance

Mission Statement Artistic Director Dancers

Freespace Dance is a contemporary modern dance company renowned for creating emotionally driven work in their athletic signature style. Comprised of seven exceptionally strong performers, this vibrant company uses controlled abandonment in pushing the limits of inventive partnering. Bodies fly through the air as Freespace Dance wows audiences worldwide.

Highlights of the company’s recent New York City season include a completely sold out run at Dance Theater Workshop with rave reviews, featuring outstanding performances by the company dancers, Artistic Director Donna Scro Gentile, and Guest Artist Gaspard Louis of Pilobolus Dance Theatre. With the success of this season, Freespace Dance has been awarded a new level of recognition and critical acclaim. Robert Johnson from the Star Ledger describes Freespace Dance as destined to attract a wider public and Donna Scro Gentile as a dancemaker that seizes an audience’s attention and pulls viewers into her space with works that can be gentle or physically aggressive, but are always profoundly sexy.

Additional New York City engagements also include two seasons at Danspace Project at St. Marks Church and two seasons at Joyce SoHo, and regular performances at NYC festivals such as Dancenow Festival, Downtown Dance Festival, Dancers Responding to AIDS: The Remember Project, International Dance Festival, DUMBO Dance Festival, and Cool New York Festival.

National touring includes performances at SUNY Purchase, Wells College, Southern Utah State University, The American College Dance Festival University of Maine, The Kaplan Theater in Houston, Texas, and annual seasons at Montclair State University. Freespace Dance has also been presented at the Oskar Schindler Center for the Performing Arts for the past two summers with a return engagement scheduled for Summer 2008.

Freespace Dance has been a guest company for Soulphonic Soundscape by Daniel Bernard Roumain featuring DBR & The Mission, choreographers for Playhouse Disney’s “Choo Choo Soul” video, and featured on Professor Predicts series for mtv U.

The company’s 2007/2008 season feature performances at Rutgers University, Grounds for Sculpture, Dance Saves the Day at the Kasser Theater, and The Oskar Schindler Center for the Performing Arts; and NYC appearances include Fridays at Noon 92nd Street Y, DNA’s Raw Material, Wave Rising Series, DUMBO Dance Festival, and Dance Conversations at the Flea. Additionally, the company will be doing extensive West Coast touring including several engagements in San Diego and is currently collaborating with West Coast artist, Peter Kalivas, Director of The PGK Project (A Contemporary Dance Company).

In addition to their performing credits, the company is highly involved in dance education. Artistic Director Donna Scro Gentile serves on faculty in the dance department at Montclair State University. Members of the New Jersey Arts Council for the Morris and Montclair areas, Freespace Dance performs their assembly program “What Inspires Us” and teaches residencies for various public and private schools.

The company also hosts a popular annual three week Summer Festival for high school and college dancers teaching classes in modern, jazz, pilates, yoga, ballet, and repertory. Their yearlong dance program for children, teens, and adults currently has fifty plus enrolled students. Due to high demand and increased activities, Donna Scro Gentile is officially opening her own yoga/dance studio - Grace Yoga and Dance.

Freespace Dance has received grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey State Council On The Arts, and The American Music Center Live Music for Dance Grant.