Founding Director Emerita of Dance Place Carla Perlo reflects on her life and leading Dance Place, the organizational host of DanceAfrica, DC. Perlo speaks about her professional trajectory and building one of the nation’s leading dance organizations with focus on how DanceAfrica, DC fits into the larger scope of Dance Place’s 40-year history as a dance presenter, school, and community arts center in Ward 5’s Brookland/Edgewood neighborhood. Perlo also speaks on her legacy in the dance community and the future of dance post COVID-19., Carla Perlo was born in Washington, D.C. in 1951. Perlo has made a lifetime commitment to the fields of dance, youth education and community revitalization through the arts. She is co-founder Dance Place in Washington, D.C. and for thirty-six years served as its visionary Founding Director. With support from the Board of Directors, Dance Place became the second independent organization in the United States to own and operate a facility for the training and presentation of dance. In August 2017, Perlo transitioned to Director Emerita, in which role she remains on Dance Place’s teaching faculty, youth program staff and serves as a consultant. In 2013, Ms. Perlo was honored to receive the DC Mayor’s Arts Award for “Excellence in Service to the Arts.” Other awards include Washingtonian Magazine’s Washingtonian of the Year (1997), The Pola Nirenska Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), and the Ernie Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance (Dance/USA, 2018).
Director Emerita of Dance Place Deborah Riley reflects on her life and leading Dance Place, the organizing host of DanceAfrica, DC. Riley talks about her career as a professional choreographer, performer, and teacher and how her love for dance fuels all she does. Riley describes the magic of DanceAfrica, DC and its importance to the community. Riley also discusses her legacy and what she hopes to see continue in the dance field post COVID-19 as Dance Place celebrates its 40-year history as a dance presenter and school for dance in Ward 5’s Brookland/Edgewood neighborhood., Born in 1950 in East Cleveland, Ohio, Deborah Riley is a life-long dance artist and more recent practitioner of Laban Movement Analysis, the basis for teaching movement arts to people of all ages and abilities. As a touring artist and educator, she has performed throughout Europe and the US as well as choreographing over 40 original works for her company, Deborah Riley Dance Projects. She was an artist-in-residence at Dance Place from 1988-2017 and retired as Co-Director in 2017. In addition to many prestigious awards and accolades, she was honored in 2016 with the Pola Nirenska Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance.