Metro DC Dance Awards
The Metro DC Dance Awards was founded in 2000 by Cheles Rhynes and Mason/Rhynes Productions as a means of recognizing excellence in local dance and building community among DC-area dance artists and organizations. Since its inception, the MDCDA has produced annual awards ceremonies and developed an online calendar of dance performances by local artists. The organization is operated by volunteers who serve on an Advisory Board and a Selection Committee.

For the first awards ceremony in 2001, artists were nominated for awards by a panel of local dance experts and selected by popular vote. The following year, MDCDA designed and implemented a three-step voting process which maintains the involvement of the community, increases the role of artists in the selection of award winners, and gives dance professionals the last vote in the process. Categories continue to be added and refined as decided by the Advisory Board.

Dance/MetroDC , a branch office of Dance/USA , the national service organization for nonprofit professional dance, became the lead organization for MDCDA in 2006. Dance/MetroDC works in conjunction with The Kennedy Center and Mason/Rhynes Productions to produce the awards ceremony, and other events associated with MDCDA. MDCDA continues to evolve as an organization which both serves and celebrates the metropolitan DC/MD/VA dance community.

For more on the Metro DC Dance Awards, visit www.mdcda.org

Jane Franklin Dance
Dancer Pinling Lin shown. Jane Franklin Dance celebrates movement and makes dance accessible to a wide range of audiences through public performances, community projects, educational outreach, and collaborations with artists from other disciplines.  Based in Northern Virginia since 1997, Jane Franklin Dance presents polished, nuanced works that combine dance, theater and humor.   Dance workshops are implemented year round for children, seniors, or specific populations.  The choreography often incorporates community members with the professional dancers.   Artists of different disciplines, from poets to musicians to sculptors, are brought in as collaborators.  Photo by Ray Gniewek.
www.janefranklin.com