Meet the Companies
Thomas/Ortiz Dance
Thomas/Ortiz Dance merges artistic innovation with technical excellence to produce new works of athleticism, emotion, and grace. By blending his urban athleticism with her Latin sensuality, the husband-and-wife team offers a fresh, emotionally engaging vision of contemporary ballet and modern dance.
Founded in 2005 and led by Artistic and Executive Director Frances Ortiz and Ted Thomas, the company has created and performed over 30 original works. With a versatile and diverse ensemble of 12 dancers, Thomas/Ortiz pushes the boundaries of classical ballet, modern, and contemporary dance to tell today’s stories with passion, creativity, and exuberance. As a vibrant hub for artistic talent, the company creates extraordinary dance experiences that inspire human connection.
East Coast Contemporary Ballet
With our roots firmly planted in our community and in our devotion to the art of creation and collaboration, East Coast Contemporary Ballet is a non-profit organization presenting ballets that push the physical and artistic boundaries of contemporary dance while utilizing the aesthetic, technique, and tradition of classical ballet.Whether inspired foremost by the musical score, conveying narrative through movement, or interpreting an abstract concept, ECCB seeks to reach diverse audiences, transcending time and space through stimulating choreography that viewers can relate to. Filling a void for a continually active innovative contemporary ballet company based in Connecticut that serves the entire East Coast, ECCB has a wider scope than its founders or its artists—it is a vehicle through which art will continue to be generated, cultivated, and shared. Cultivating both art-lovers and artists through the creation of art itself.
Founded in 2019 by Claire Mazza and Alejandro Ulloa, East Coast Contemporary Ballet (ECCB) is a Connecticut-based dance company that performs seasonally in Connecticut and New York and is currently celebrating their fifth season. Producing entirely original works, the company is committed to reaching diverse audiences and producing art that audiences can relate to and be inspired by. In 2021 ECCB premiered their first original full-length contemporary ballet set entirely to the music of Ernesto Lecuona and in the summer of the same year founded the Fairfield County Dance Festival in partnership with Thomas Ortiz Dance, offering free summer dance performances throughout Fairfield County. They have also been invited to perform in the Newport Dance Festival, Stamford Block Party, and Stamford Dances Downtown. Collaboration is another core value of the company, and ECCB has had the pleasure to collaborate with music artists such as Nathan Hasselby and Latin Grammy-award winner Pedro Giraudo, with fellow dance companies, and with organizations such as the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, Museum of Contemporary Art – Westport, Norwalk Art Space, Darien Arts Center, Ballet, and the Fairfield Museum and History Center. To learn more about the company, visit: https://eccballet.org/
Neville Dance Theatre
Hailed as “compelling,” “imaginative,” and a “pure delight,” Neville Dance Theatre, led by Founder and Artistic Director/Choreographer Brenda Neville, is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that brings theatrical and thematic innovation to dance through works ranging from classical to contemporary ballet. Featuring eclectic and universally themed pieces that celebrate the human spirit and our shared world, this vibrant company creates colorful tapestries of movement that inspire and delight audiences, allowing spectators of all ages and backgrounds to experience the joy and artistry of dance. Now celebrating its 20th year, the company prides itself on fostering an exchange of styles, perspectives, and attitudes among its artists and audience, offering opportunities for involvement in the dance arts and promoting a deeper appreciation of dance as a powerful form of expression, communication, and artistry.
Amy Marshall Dance Company
Choreographer Amy Marshall and Executive Director Chad Levy co-founded the Amy Marshall Dance Company in 2000 in order to realize a vision of dance theater as a visual metaphor for the human spirit. Ms. Marshall’s choreography pays tribute to both the beauty and tribulations of life’s experiences through dramatic movement. The work’s emotional structure explodes across the stage with dramatic confrontation and then suddenly resolves itself into a poignancy of classical dimensions. The virtuosic performance of the dancers leaves audiences awed and delighted. To learn more about the company, visit: https://www.amymarshall.com/.
Lydia Johnson Dance
Founded in 1999, Lydia Johnson Dance has been consistently praised for its distinctive choreography, which uses components of ballet woven seamlessly into a contemporary dance vocabulary. The New York Times, The New Yorker, Backstage Magazine, Dance View Times and Oberon’s Grove have critically acclaimed the company for its annual New York Season. LJD’s 2019 New York Season was chosen by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts to be filmed by their videographer and is available for viewing at the library.
LJD has performed at many venues including Live Arts, The Ailey Citigroup Theater, and in the 92nd St Y’s Moving Forward: Women Ballet Choreographers East and West series, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival’s Inside/Out, the Great Friends Dance Festival in Rhode island and the Downtown Dance Festival in NYC. LJD was in residence at Kaatsbaan in March of 2022 developing new work. To learn more about the company, visit https://www.lydiajohnsondance.org/.
Newport Contemporary Ballet
Newport Contemporary Ballet (NCB) is a non-profit, professional, contemporary ballet company with a long history of enriching the cultural fabric of communities throughout Rhode Island, the region, and the world. The company creates and presents, relevant, visceral, and engaging dance works by a diverse group of the world’s leading choreographers and collaborating artists. In addition to works created for traditional stages, NCB is widely known for its unique approach to experiential and site- specific performances. NCB also runs The Academy at Newport Contemporary Ballet, a pre-professional school offering adult, youth and core ballet programs, and provides an arts-integrated, in-school learning program called Dancing Through Boundaries serving 4,500 kids across Newport County annually. To learn more about the company visit: https://newportcontemporaryballet.org
