THE KAUFMAN ARTS DISTRICT IN ASTORIA QUEENS
PROGRAMS
AN ARTS CENTER FOR OUR COMMUNITY
RIOULT Dance Center will strive to be an affordable, welcoming, and accessible community resource for the arts and arts education.
For people living and working in the community, the doors will be open and studios will be filled with dance and fitness classes (Barre, Pilates, Zumba, yoga) taught by highly qualified professionals and dancers.
The 106 seat performance space will be a hive of activity with student shows, open rehearsals, and professional performances. Students and community members will have easy access to an exciting range of events.
“This corner of Queens has quickly become a vibrant community of cultural venues and arts organizations that have attracted some of our generation’s greatest artists."
― Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer
THE SCHOOL
RIOULT Dance NY has had a robust dance education program for many years supporting the belief that dance belongs to everyone, and that everyone can dance. Research shows that dance training maximizes brain function, and improves attention span and cognition.
RIOULT’s dance classes for children not only instill sound technique but also guide them through the creative process of making their own dances — cooperating as a group, and contributing their own ideas and movement. This approach establishes a greater sense of ownership and pride in one’s work.
Studying in the presence of professional dancers will greatly enhance the educational environment at The School. Students will see dancers at work and in the hallways; every day the excitement of the theater will be within arms’ reach.
The Company’s passion for education has always been at the core of its work. For the last 20 years the DanceREACH program has made an indelible impact on generations of NYC school children.
“Thank you for sharing your world of dance with my daughter. Her world has now opened up to dream bigger dreams. I hope that she will take what you have taught her and grow to her highest potential. Your dancers are truly gifted at their profession.” — M. Hailey, Parent
THE DANCE COMMUNITY
THE COMPANY
RIOULT Dance Center will increase the Company’s capacity to achieve its full potential to impact the community and dance world while maintaining the quality, artistry, and professionalism it is known for.
While the practical benefits of having a home - a Center - are manifold, the intangible implications are limitless.
It will be a place percolating with creativity for Pascal and the dancers. It will be a place to dig deep into the shared human experience and create art and inspire.
Dance is ephemeral. A bricks and mortar home will ground the Company and pave the way for a rich legacy benefitting many generations to come.
“Pascal Rioult is a choreographer, but he constructs his works from materials that very few others know how to find. Like an artisan with his own secret resources, he’s the maker of a rich and complex cloth; he weaves moments in time from threads of imagination and makes them into Dances.”
― The Huffington Post
THE CONSERVATORY
True to Pascal Rioult and Joyce Herring’s common dance heritage, The Center will house a conservatory that has deep roots in the modern and classical techniques that have been proven to develop strong, capable dancers.
Geared for advanced dancers on a performance career track, The Conservatory will offer a rigorous, performance-based, curriculum of dance technique, repertory, and composition, as well as courses in theater, music, production, and the visual arts.
This concentrated program will prepare students to become more than dancers. They will become global citizens who can communicate thoughtfully, intelligently, and clearly through their art.
Through the Conservatory at RIOULT Dance Center and its students, the legacy of Pascal Rioult will live on.
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
— Pericles
RIOULT Dance Center will become a destination for professional dancers, choreographers, dance students in every stage of their careers, and dance companies in need of affordable rehearsal and performing space.
The Center will facilitate the development of new work, innovation, experimentation, fresh new ideas, and provide a public stage.
Among dance companies in NYC “almost half do not have consistent workspace, and only ‘sometimes’ do they have access to the types of space they need” according to a recent study by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.1 There remains a critical lack of suitable studio space in spite of the successes of the CUNY Dance Initiative and other recent studio expansions. In creating RIOULT Dance Center we have the opportunity to help remedy this situation for ourselves and other dance organizations.
RIOULT Dance NY is committed to serving as a nexus within the dance ecosystem of New York, to ensure the city and its boroughs remain a destination for dance and performance art.
For more information contact Executive Director, Amy Harrison at amy@rioult.org
 Talent Unlimited High School EntranceDescribe your image. |  Steinway HallDescribe your image. |  Socrates Sculpture Park 2Describe your image. |
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 Noguchi_museum 3Describe your image. |  Queens Council on the Arts 2Describe your image. |  Kaufman Astoria StudiosDescribe your image. |
 Frank Sinatra School of ArtsDescribe your image. |  Kaufman ArtsDescribe your image. |  Steinway & Sons EntranceDescribe your image. |
 Museum of the Moving ImageDescribe your image. |