QUEENS CHAMBER MEMBER NEWS Celebrating 25 Years: Valerie Green/Dance Entropy

Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, a cultural staple of Queens since 1998, is pleased to be celebrating its 25Th Anniversary Season! A dance company that has been “hugely impactful on the cultural landscape of Long Island City,” VG/ DE believes in humanizing movement, both in Artistic Director Valerie Green’s critically acclaimed choreographic work and the company’s mission to plant creative seeds in communities across the world (Elizabeth Luskin, former LIC Partnership President). Based out of its home studio, Green Space, in Queens, VG/DE combines performance and specialized outreach programs to inspire communities in cultural institutions throughout the world.

Green became a Long Island City, Queens pioneer in 2005 when she established Green Space, a 1200 sq ft studio and performance space, in response to the intense need for professional rehearsal, class, and performance space in Queens and New York City. Green Space furthers Dance Entropy’s mission to nurture connections between dance creation and education and build community among dance artists through its programming as a fixture in the NYC dance community. Resident critically-acclaimed dance company, Valerie Green/ Dance Entropy, strives to break down systemic race, gender and other identity barriers to fulfill the ultimate goal of collectiveness and inclusivity through dance. Featuring nine dancers and six teaching artists, the communities engaged with have included at risk youth, adolescents, trauma survivors, differently abled people, and senior citizens. Ms. Green creates one new boundary-pushing work for her company each season. To date, she has created 42 dances including 10 evening-length works, performing throughout NYC, the US, and internationally.

In September the company premiered HOME at Gibney Dance Center. HOME is an internation- al cross-collaborative dance project featuring choreographers from six countries including Sweden, India, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Lebanon and the USA. Directed by Green, the dynamic full-evening work, which weaves together the different dances, explores identity, culture, environment, ritual, history, and community.

The Green Space Affordable Rental Program provides a welcoming environment where choreographers can explore, experiment and deepen their creative process. Hannah Maria Hayes of Dance Business Weekly likens Green Space to “a little dance ecosystem, with one dance business nurturing a community of other fledgling dance enterprises.” In 2022, Green Space directly served 318 choreographers, many at the incomparable $10 starting rental rates.

The studio's performance program is comprised of the split-bill series Take Root, inaugurated in 2009, which curates 19 diverse artists per season for 10 weekend evenings, and Fertile Ground, a works-in-progress showcase inaugurated in 2006, which has featured work by 1007 choreographers to date. Both programs aim to support dance makers in various stages of their process and careers in a wide array of cutting-edge work. Ms. Green also leads Skimming the Surface, a workshop program that aims to work with partner organizations specializing in trauma support services for people in need. She has led these workshops for a variety of partner organizations including the Department of Corrections at Riker’s Island, Phoenix House, Safe Horizon, Crime Victims Treatment Center, Elmhurst Hospital, Queens Library, and more. She also offers therapeutic support groups for adults at affordable rates that meet every other week or one on one sessions. The company’s talented teaching artist can be found working in NYC schools across the boroughs in collaboration with the Department of

Education and in senior centers throughout Queens, funded by the city’s SU-CASA program. We hope you will become a part our community. If you are interested in attending any of our events or learning more about Dance Entropy’s programming, serving on our board, or donating please go to DanceEntropy.org or GreenSpaceStudio,org.