Ground Zero Dance Company

Since its founding in 2000, GZDC has regularly presented new and repertory work by company choreographers and guest artists at venues throughout Richmond, including the Grace Street Theater, Artspace Gallery, St. Catherine's School, the Tredegar Iron Works Gun Foundry Building, and the Valentine Museum; and throughout Charlottesville, including the New Dance Space, Live Arts Theater, and the IX Building. In addition, GZDC has twice been presented at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (2000, 2001), and at the Charlottesville Festival of Contemporary Dance and Improvisation in Performance.

The company remains committed to supporting its choreographers in the creation of new work, and in collaborating with guest artists from Richmond and beyond in order to bring new and diverse work before Richmond and central Virginia audiences.

GZDC also regularly offers sessions of dance and movement-based classes to the Richmond community at affordable rates or by donation.

A current special project involves fiscal sponsorship of Performatica, an international dance festival coordinated by GZDC Artistic Associate Ray Schwartz on the campus of the Universidad de las Americas in Cholula, Mexico. See www.performatica.org.

In addition, GZDC is embarking on a partnership with Dogtown Dance, LLC, (DTD) who has purchased a stand-alone gymnasium building in Manchester, within Richmond city limits. Through renovation of the Bainbridge Gymnasium, DTD seeks to provide affordable office/studio space for smaller-scale organizations and individuals focused on but not limited to the performing arts, design, wellness, social change, and with a commitment to community outreach. In partnership with GZDC, DTD will provide a venue for a range of performing arts, focused on but not limited to dance, in a flexible, mid-sized facility.

To prepare for an expanded existence as steward of Richmond?s newest dance/ performance venue, GZDC seeks support for research into new funding avenues, both public and private, that will enable the Company to stage a capital campaign for theatre upfit (lighting and sound equipment, and soft goods for design of a flexible stage space) and to expand its general operating budget over the next two to four years.