DC Dance Network is thrilled to announce that the inaugural winner of the DC Dance Network Choreographer Commission is Brendan Drake!
Meet Brendan
Brendan Drake is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, and educator. Their work uses diverse movement forms, text, and sound manipulation to interrogate notions of vanity, rage, gender, and queer power dynamics. Their work has been described by critics as “a glorious exploration of the body at its extremes” (Brooklyn Rail) and “hilarious and sobering: a way to say the unutterable (Culturebot).” Brendan was a 2017-2018 Fresh Tracks Artist at New York Live Arts and has been awarded grants and residencies through the Brooklyn Arts Fund, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, CUNY Dance Initiative, Brooklyn Studios for Dance, Monira Foundation, The Tank, and Chez Bushwick. Brendan's recent choreography has been presented in New York at Kestrels, Danspace Project (Draftwork), Movement Research, The Brick, La MaMa, PAGEANT, Joe's Pub, The Wild Project, and AUNTS, and at JrHigh (Los Angeles, CA), Fowler Museum (Los Angeles, CA), and The Dance Complex (Boston, MA). In addition to their work on stage, Brendan choreographed the fall 2014 “Equality = Love” campaign for Adidas Originals/Pharrell Williams. They were the movement coordinator for editorial shoots with Vogue, Porter, V, and Elle Magazines (photographers: Liz Collins, Ryan McGinley, Collier Schorr).
In June 2025, they presented their academic and creative research on “Post-AIDS Artistic Ruptures” at the Dance Studies Association Conference at George Washington University. Brendan has taught at UCLA, Columbia University, the University of Massachusetts, Muhlenberg College, DeSales University, Ball State University, Peridance, and the New York Film Academy. As a dancer and performer, they have worked with Nattie + Hollis, Kayla Hamilton/Circle O, JChen Project, and Emily Barasch. Brendan holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an MFA in Choreographic Inquiry from UCLA. They are also a certified Pilates Mat and Apparatus Instructor through the Kane School for Core Integration, and currently the Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at The Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University.
Learn More About the Project
“Ceremonials” will be a multidisciplinary performance incorporating choreography, practical effects, sound manipulation, and aesthetics of ecstasy to analyze both the implicit Queer subtexts and explicit homoeroticism embedded in Catholic iconography.
When Can I See This Work Onstage?
Brendan’s work “Ceremonials” will premiere at Dance Place July 10th and 11th, 2026. Tickets will go on sale in the coming months. In the meantime make sure to stay subscribed to DC Dance Network emails to stay in the loop about other ways to support this work and the creative process between now and the July performances.
