Founded in 1999, Lydia Johnson Dance has been consistently praised for its distinctive choreography, which uses components of ballet woven seamlessly into a contemporary dance vocabulary. The Company has received an extraordinarily positive level of critical acclaim from The New York Times, The New Yorker and Backstage Magazine for its annual New York Season. The Company has performed seven full seasons at performance spaces including: The Ailey Citigroup Theater, The Dicapo Opera Theater, Speyer Hall and The Theater at Riverside Church. LJD performed at both Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the Downtown Dance Festival in the summer of 2008.

Capturing a sense of the depth and spirit of the human struggle, Ms. Johnson’s evocative work is noted for an underlying sense of drama, which resonates through the predominantly abstract qualities of her choreography. Her visually stunning dance phrases sustain a mesmerizing quality that captivates audiences. Music is a powerful component of the Lydia Johnson Dance experience and selections range from twentieth century masters such as Paul Hindemith and Henryk Gorecki, to jazz by Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk and Pop songs by Cake.

Lydia Johnson Dance is honored to have been awarded a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation grant in 2008 and is a past recipient of a Garden State Arts Foundation Grant as well as a Harkness Dance Center Space Grant from the 92nd Street Y in New York.

Lydia Johnson Dance features seven to twelve dancers with great individuality and expressive ability. The dancers have significant ballet experience and from this base of classical training, the qualities of Ms. Johnson’s phrases take on a life and flow of their own. The juxtaposition of ballet movements with the unique, plunging, drop-and-release vocabulary Ms. Johnson has developed requires a fierce and risk-taking dancer who is also capable of great lyricism and musicality. Lydia Johnson Dance company dancers have performed extensively with other highly acclaimed companies, among them: Suzanne Farrell, North Carolina Dance Theater, Complexions, Sacramento Ballet, Ballet New York, Chicago Ballet and Movin’ Out.

Lydia Johnson Dance is strongly committed to increasing awareness of and involvement in contemporary dance. This belief in outreach is reflected in the company’s efforts to provide opportunities for underserved children throughout New Jersey. These efforts were recently supported by an Essex Arts Grant to present a Choreography Workshop for the Art Smart program at Seth Boyden School in Maplewood, New Jersey. Funds for this program are provided by The New Jersey State Council for the Arts.

Lydia Johnson Dance presents ongoing Choreography and Dance Workshops at Burgdorff Cultural Center, partnering with Arts Maplewood. LJD holds Ballet and Choreography classes at The South Orange Performing Arts Center where LJD is Dance Company In Residence. Lydia Johnson Dance has an established Scholarship Fund, which provides opportunities for children who would be otherwise unable to participate. For more information on Lydia Johnson Dance, the company, future performances, our educational outreach and how you can support this cultural institution, please email info@lydiajohnsondance.org or phone 973-763-6971