The Story of The Community Dance Connection Theatre has its beginnings in 1979 with the establishment of The Rockbridge Dance Ensemble in Lexington, Virginia. Founded by dancer, choreographer, and educator Carol Winder working in partnership with Fine Arts In Rockbridge (FAIR), The Rockbridge Dance Ensemble provided advanced dance education and performance opportunities for local young people and served as a medium for educational outreach to area schools with its annual school concerts. Winder guided and developed the program for over 17 years (during which time the term “modern” was added as a qualifier to the company title) and when she retired in 1996, FAIR appointed Nancy Saylor as the ensemble’s next artistic director.
After several years of producing concerts with the troupe of mostly high school girls however, Saylor began to imagine how she might build on Winder’s work and expand the mission of the original company. Wanting to find a way to make dances in Rockbridge County with a broader creative impact, she started to envision a different kind of ensemble; one that transcended the typical dance stereotypes of age and gender and would tap into the full range of Rockbridge County’s diverse population, forming a dance company that provided a wider variety of choreographic options and a wider scope for artistic expression.
With the enthusiastic support of FAIR (the organization was also searching for ways to transform the community’s dance scene), the process was begun to gradually phase out the Rockbridge Modern Dance Ensemble and in 2003 Saylor launched the new company she was dreaming of: The Community Dance Connection Theatre (The CDCT).
Now fully incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3), non-profit organization, The CDCT’s ensemble membership has grown and diversified over the past seven years with performance casts for its concerts sometimes including more than 60 people of all ages and levels of experience: men and women, boys and girls, community members intent on developing their creative potential and young people seeking the training they need to dance on the college level and in professional careers.
Often working with professional guest artists—writers, choreographers, musicians, dancers, actors, and theatre designers—Saylor has developed a unique, collaborative method for creating distinctive original works ranging from traditional concert pieces to full length dance-plays including A Body of Stories, The Nut Cracked, A Dream I Had-An Invitation to Winter, After Ten Years It Starts to Itch, Love on a Shoestring, Dream River, and The CDCT’s most recent project, Three Steps.
In addition to its innovative creative work, The CDCT has also established educational programs that provide dance-theatre experiences to an ever-widening circle of children and adults (The Moving Arts Initiative) and a summer residency program for fine arts professionals (The Rockbridge Artist Exchange).
The CDCT invites you to consider how you can become part of the connection. Whether it’s contributing as an audience member, volunteering as a production crew-member, serving on The CDCT Board of Directors, or making a tax-deductible donation, we can all work together to enrich our community and our world through the art of dance. Of course, your real calling might be to join The CDCT as an ensemble member. If so, then please do. The dance floor is open!
The CDCT History