Catskill Mountain Foundation: Bringing World-Class Dance to the Hudson Valley

The Hudson Valley is a region overflowing with world-class arts and artists. And since its founding in 1998, the Catskill Mountain Foundation (CMF) has been at the forefront of this vibrant scene. It has presented hundreds of musical and theatrical performances, screened over 1,000 films, and provided art classes to thousands of students of all ages.

But one area where CMF truly shines is in cultivating new works of dance from some of the world’s most esteemed companies. CMF began featuring dance in 2003 when it initiated a program providing living and workshop space where notables like Twyla Tharp Dance and Noche Flamenca could incubate new creations. In return for these creative retreats, the companies have offered Hudson Valley culture lovers previews of these “works-in-progress” at CMF’s two performance spaces, The Doctorow Center for the Arts in Hunter and, exclusively since 2011, The Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville.

In 2025, Catskill Mountain Foundation is continuing to deepen its commitment to dance through partnerships with Works & Process at the Guggenheim and New York City’s renowned The Joyce Theater. The dance works championed by Catskill Mountain Foundation and its partners span the stylistic gamut – from the high-energy street dance of Princess Lockerooo & the Fabulous Waack Dancers to the classical styles of Ballet Hispanico Junior Ensemble. 

To provide details on the activities unfolding, Inside+Out Upstate NY spoke with two of the initiative’s prime movers: Pam Weisberg, CMF’s Director of Performing Arts, and Duke Dang, the Executive Director of Works & Process at the Guggenheim. 

INSIDE+OUT: What year did the overall dance partnership program begin, and with which partner organizations and dance companies have you worked?

Pam Weisberg: CMF began presenting dance performances in 2003 with Elisa Monte Dance, Taylor 2 Dance Company, and Noche Flamenca. In 2004, we hosted our first residency with the New York Baroque Dance Company and have hosted two or more dance companies annually since then. In 2016, CMF hosted Twyla Tharp Dance in partnership with Pathways to Dance. This was an eight-county Capital Region initiative, in concert with Manhattan’s Joyce Theater, designed to support new dance creation and presentation through various intensive workshops, performances, exhibitions, lectures, and master classes. Along with The Joyce, partners have included The Egg and University at Albany PAC, Basilica Hudson, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, National Museum of Dance, Saratoga PAC, Proctors Theater, and Hubbard Hall. In 2017 and 2018, Twyla returned for two more residencies at CMF.  

The partnership program with Works & Process at the Guggenheim began in 2021 during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Planning and preparation of guidelines for these “bubble residencies” began in 2020, at the outbreak of the pandemic. Our residencies with The Joyce Theater started in 2023 for CMF’s 25th Anniversary with Kyle Marshall Dance, HopeBoykinDance, and Olivier Tarpaga Dance. 

What is the mission of Works & Process at the Guggenheim, and how did it find a home at CMF?

Duke Dang: It is about championing performing artists and their creative process at every step – from studio to stage. I like to think of it as an organic, “farm-to-table” approach to the arts. 

Through Works & Process, creators receive commissions and fully funded, made-to-measure residencies. These offer 24/7 studio availability, on-site housing, insurance allocations, transportation, and more. The Catskill Mountain Foundation has been one of the most enthusiastic and creative of the 15 partners in our residency program.  

As for myself, I have a home in Catskill and learned about the Catskill Mountain Foundation through two friends who lived locally and were on CMF’s Board of Directors: Sarah Finn, its current President, and the late, great Jacques d’Amboise. Jacques was the beloved principal dancer for the New York City Ballet during the George Balanchine era. In 1976, he founded the National Dance Institute (NDI) . It is a groundbreaking dance education program for local 3rd- to 8th-graders that has a two-week residency every summer at the Catskill Mountain Foundation. 

How does the workshop program work?  How long do artists stay in their residencies?  Are the works they perform at the end of their residencies original works developed during their stay at CMF?

Pam Weisberg: The average dance residency is one week, with some groups staying two. Occasionally, an artist or company may arrange to stay a third week. The new works developed during the residencies are presented as “works-in-progress,” not fully realized works, in performances at the Orpheum Theater, including lively discussions with the audiences.  Once completed, the works may premiere at Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum, The Joyce, or other venues such as The American Dance Festival.  

Duke, you mentioned the term “bubble residencies” earlier, a protocol you developed to help artists stay active during the pandemic.  Can you tell us a little bit about this?

Duke Dang: When the pandemic hit and we were all isolating, I created the first protocols for our “bubble residencies.”  It was designed as a way for artists to gather, create, rehearse, and perform safely. We began developing the concepts in the summer of 2020.  When COVID-19 hit, we knew we couldn’t have performances but could still support artists.  As I was thinking about what space might be available, the Catskill Mountain Foundation immediately came to mind. I knew the Orpheum Performing Arts Center was available and had housing for the artists.  We tested all the artists multiple times, tested the bus driver, and housed them at the Orpheum, where they lived, created, and rehearsed safely inside this bubble for two weeks.  

Because of this, we became the first to reopen live outdoor and indoor performances in New York State. We first did it outdoors in the Hudson Valley at Kaatsbaan in Tivoli and then indoors in the Rotunda at the Guggenheim Museum in March 2021. With the Guggenheim performance, the dancers went straight from their residency at CMF’s Orpheum in Tannersville to the museum in New York City. As you can see, it was really the pandemic that brought us together. We had seven projects in residencies at CMF during the pandemic and probably 15 – 20 throughout our partnership.

Pam Weisberg: As Duke mentioned, this unique program, our safe harbor for dancers, became very active in early 2021.  The new commissions developed during these residencies premiered as part of the 2021-2022 season of Works & Process at the Guggenheim.  They included: A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time by Jamar Roberts and David Watson; Rhapsody in Blue, a kaleidoscope of New York by Caleb Teicher and Company; New York Is Burning by Omari Wiles, performed by Les Ballet Afrik; The Jazz Continuum with LaTasha Barnes and UnderScored by Ephrat Asherie Dance, in collaboration with New York City’s Club Legends.  

Duke’s knowledge of the dance world and his understanding of what dancers and choreographers need to achieve their goals have been an excellent resource for CMF. It has helped us develop a meaningful relationship with dance artists and audiences who respond to new work and new ideas. Because Duke has a home in Catskill, not far from CMF, he is also attuned to the local dance audience and has supported CMF in our efforts to expand the appetite for the art form in the region.  

Can you tell us a bit about the four projects produced in partnership with Works & Process in 2025?

Duke Dang: In early January, CMF hosted Princess Lockerooo & the Fabulous Waack Dancers. Waacking is a street dance style that emerged from the gay discos of Los Angeles in the ’70s, distinguished by its rotational arm movements, posing, and an emphasis on expressiveness. It’s not only about dance but also about competition. These performances feature battles among the company’s dancers, which provide a whirlwind of color, energy, and talent.  Princess Lockerooo’s productions have been featured at prestigious venues like Lincoln Center and Summerstage, and the performance at the close of her residency truly raised the roof at the Orpheum Theater.

In late March, we partnered with the American Dance Festival on a residency for the Passion Fruit Dance Company, a dance and educational company founded in 2016 by Haitian-Swiss dancer/choreographer Tatiana Desardouin. While at CMF, Passion Fruit continued work on its immersive and interactive art exhibition version of DIM3NSIONS. This multi-disciplinary theater work blends street and club dance, body casting, motion capture, projections, animation, live music, live painting, and photography. Passion Fruit and this work were an excellent match for CMF as the company desperately needed to work on the tech side of the production, while the Orpheum was ideally suited for it.  Hudson Valley audiences enjoyed a preview of this piece on March 29, a dynamic work that will officially premiere June 15 at the American Dance Festival in North Carolina.

In April, we honored the Jacques d’Amboise connection by hosting Emily Coates, a dancer, choreographer, and writer who has performed with Twyla Tharp Dance, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project and the New York City Ballet, and who is also a professor in the dance department at Yale University.  Her new work, The Scattering, marries dance, spoken word, and multimedia resources to tell the story of the broad impact of George Balanchine, the scattering of his influence throughout the world and generations of dancers.  Emily is collaborating on the piece with director Ain Gordon, actor Derek Lucci, composer Charles Burnham, and pianist Melvin Chen.  The elegant and engaging performance she gave on April 5 at the Orpheum references d’Amboise, Balanchine’s former principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, and how he continued to scatter Balanchine’s influence to new generations through his National Dance Institute summer program for children here in the Hudson Valley—with an upcoming July 19th performance.

Pam Weisberg: Victoria Rinaldi, the Director of the Orpheum Dance Program, suggested a residency for Ballet Hispanico Jr.  The Orpheum Dance Program conducts a year-round ballet program for local children and produces two ballets each year, Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Nutcracker. Ballet Hispanico’s junior dancers participate in The Nutcracker each December. This week-long residency served as an intensive rehearsal period for these young dancers, supporting the work of preparing the repertory for performance, including a new work created especially for them. 

Pam, what companies will CMF host in its partnership with The Joyce?

Pam Weisberg: First is the renowned tap dancer and choreographer Ayodele Casel, whose projects have included Bessie Award-winning concert film Chasing Magic, her one-woman show While I Have the Floor, and her theatrical and film series Diary of a Tap Dancer. She served as a tap choreographer for the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, which garnered her a 2022 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Choreography. In 2021, Casel was depicted on a U.S. Postal Service Forever Stamp celebrating tap dance.  She is in residence at CMF in early May with a team that includes dancers, poets, musicians, and director Torya Beard, presenting excerpts from various works-in-progress at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center on May 10 at 7 pm.

We will also host Rennie Harris Puremovement (RHPM). Founded in 1992, RHPM has emerged as an important international ambassador for Hip-Hop and street dance.  While at CMF, Rennie Harris and his crew continued to hone a work called American Street Dancer. It’s a unique performance that showcases the similarities and differences of dance in four cities, including: New York City (Afro-Cuban/Salsa), Detroit (Jitting), Chicago (Chicago Footwork), and Philadelphia (GQ). We are especially pleased to host and celebrate RHPM in 2025, the 30th Anniversary of the company.

All the dance companies seem delighted to be living and working at CMF’s Orpheum Performing Arts Center. What is the space’s history?

Pam Weisberg: All of our dance performances take place in the Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville.  This former movie house was beautifully renovated by renowned theatre architect Hugh Hardy. Hardy is the man behind the renovations of other historic theaters, including The Joyce, New Victory, and Glimmerglass Opera House.  Opened to the public in 2011, the Orpheum seats 250, and its stage is modeled on the one at The Joyce Theater to accommodate contemporary dance companies. Through a $10 million New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant to the Village of Tannersville, CMF received the matching funds to update the theater’s lighting, sound, and rigging, which was completed this past spring.  The second part of the DRI grant is funding the construction of a two-story dance studio adjacent to the Orpheum Theater. This is expected to be completed before the end of 2025.  

Photos courtesy of Catskill Mountain Foundation

For information on the Catskill Mountain Foundation, its dance program and other initiatives, visit Website | Facebook | Instagram | Inside+Out Spotlight

Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Hudson Valley NY.

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