CityDance’s DREAMscape Brings Together Top Dancers

Non-profit dance organization CityDance is holding its annual DREAMscape event with some of the dance world’s biggest stars on Saturday, May 7 at U Street’s Lincoln Theatre. Proceeds benefit CityDance’s flagship DREAM initiative, a dance training and mentorship program designed to keep students in school.

Founded in 1996, CityDance is “rooted in the belief that dance can transform lives and inspire change,” External Relations Manager Megan Piluk says. To that end, the organization offers professional training and general classes. DREAM is the program that truly speaks to the organization’s activist ethos.

DREAM started as a program for third through fifth grade students in partner DC public schools. The level of interest prompted the organization’s expansion to include sixth through twelfth grade classes, all provided free of charge. CityDance currently works with six schools in DC, and provides classes to hundreds of students each year. But it’s not just dance training that DREAM is offering.

“We use dance as a pathway to help students graduate and pursue their dreams,” Piluk says of the overarching goal behind DREAM.

With mentorship, tutoring and other support, the program has led to a marked increase in school engagement and dedication, according to Piluk. After being honored at last year’s National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards, DREAM will expand in 2018 to include a dedicated space in the U Street corridor: the DREAM Center for Dance.

This year’s DREAMscape will bring together some of the dance world’s best talent, including Matthew Golding, who Piluk describes as “the Brad Pitt of dance,” with DC’s own Rasta Thomas directing.

Tickets for general admission start at $25, while VIP packages start at $250. But if you can’t make it on the 7th, CityDance is taking over the Lincoln Theatre on the 8th as well for a free performance by the stars of the show themselves: the students.

Other upcoming events include CityDance’s celebration of Georgia O’Keefe at the Phillips Collection on May 12 and the organization’s annual Conservatory Dancers in Concert event at the American Dance Institute in Rockville, Md. on June 11 and 12. For more information, visit

www.citydance.net.

DREAMscape at Lincoln Theatre: 1215 U St. NW, DC; 202-888-0050;www.thelincolndc.com

Photo: Courtesy of CityDance