Dance
RIOULT Dance NY
Astoria dance company names new leader while
opening new home in Kaufman Arts District
BY BILL PARRY
An Astoria-based dance company has a new
leader to go with their new home.
RIOULT Dance NY appointed Jane
Penn as the company’s executive director,
which coincides with the opening of its 11,000 square
foot facility.
The RIOULT Dance Center, located at 34-01
Steinway St., houses the professional dance company
and serves the broader arts community.
“On behalf of the board, it is with great pleasure
that we announce Jane Penn as the executive director
for RIOULT Dance NY,” said Hope Greenfield, chair of
the Board of Directors of RIOULT. “As a former dancer
and longtime member of the dance community, she
brings a vast amount of understanding to her role. We
are so delighted to have her driving the development
of our new dance center and partnering with us to
shape the future of RIOULT.”
Founded in 1994, RIOULT Dance NY is dedicated
to fostering a new generation of modern dance
enthusiasts through the creation and presentation
of dance works by choreographer and artistic director
Pascal Rioult. The company has performed in theaters
and festivals throughout North America.
“I am so thrilled to welcome Jane to the RIOULT
organization at a pivotal moment in our history,” Rioult
said. “It is an ambitious undertaking in this day and
age, and I am glad to have found an ambitious and
accomplished partner with whom to build the future.”
Penn began her early years training as a dancer at
The School of American Ballet and later at the Joffrey
Ballet School. After an injury sidelined her career on
stage, she transferred her passion into arts management
working in the not-for-profit sector for more than 25 years.
On the eve of its 25th anniversary, RIOULT Dance
NY was given the keys to its first-ever home in the
Astoria Arts District which currently includes more than
30 arts and culture spaces including the Museum of
the Moving Image, the Frank Sinatra School of the
Arts, and Kaufman Astoria Studios. RIOULT Dance
NY is the first established dance company to take up
residence within the Kaufman Arts District.
“The newly-built Dance Center is at the heart of
what I love as an arts professional, providing working
artists with the resources they need to create and
building space for bold voices, new ideas and a strong
sense of community,” Penn said. “We are so fortunate to
call Astoria home. There is a vibrancy and authenticity
in the neighborhood that begs for a creative enterprise
such as ours.”
46 FEBRUARY 2020 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
The RIOULT Dance Center is dedicated to
community-based arts programming: providing a
permanent home base for the dance company; an
educational resource for the local community in western
Queens; and a creative hub for the larger New York
City dance community.
Courtesy RIOULT Dance NY
Jane Penn takes over as executive
director of RIOULT Dance NY as the
company opens its new home in the
Kaufman Arts District
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