Professional performing artists most often exhibit a special passion for a particular discipline and seem to grasp its difficulties and nuances early on. Cleo Parker Robinson was nine-years-old when she began dance lessons. “I was a movement child,” she says, “but I didn’t take it very seriously then. I just danced. I didn’t think anybody had to learn it!”

But by age 15, empowered by dancer-educator Rhoda Gersten, Robinson was actually teaching dance in her hometown of Denver. When Gersten was unable to continue classes herself, she confidently handed over her students to this gifted teen. “She just announced one day that she was leaving on a European tour and wanted me to take over,” Robinson recalls. “I never thought it was something I would end up doing for a lifetime!’”

While still in college in 1970, Robinson set out to establish her own company. Though its name has changed over the years, it has come to be known as Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, recognized today as one of the country’s top modern dance companies. As a choreographer, Robinson’s acclaimed work has specialized in combining modern forms with elements of African dance. Her works are also informed by an array of legendary dancers and teachers, beginning with Katherine Dunham, who left her with a lasting love of rhythms and modern technique. But there were also Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey and Merce Cunningham, among others. “I integrate everything into my work,” Robinson says. “Everybody comes through!”

Under her leadership, Robinson’s Denver-based company also maintains a school, supports an international summer dance institute, an in-school lecture series, a special program for children-at-risk, and a 300-seat theater at the renovated Shorter AMC Church, the oldest black church in the region.

“This was sort of my destiny,” says Robinson, who was raised by a pair of artistic parents. Her mother was a French horn player with the San Diego Symphony, and her father was a musician and dancer who became the facilities director at the only professional theater in town. “I was born in an area of Denver called Five Points. It had thriving clubs, music, innovations and good race relations. I didn’t know how lucky I was! There were people from all backgrounds and races. To me, that was the way the world worked.”

After high school, Robinson attended the University of Denver (then called The Colorado Women’s College), graduating with degrees in dance and psychology. During those years, she began to develop her own dance philosophy, which stresses (again and again) that dance is for everyone. “Children in particular participate in the arts through exposure, and they come to our building to discover their potential,” she says. “We help them explore music, art, dance, poetry, hip hop—anything they’d like to do. These young people get to watch us work, too. That means that we don’t have to talk about discipline—instead, they can see it in action.”

To choose her dancers, Robinson holds auditions each year at the International Black Dancers’ Conference and at her own summer institute. But Kendell Dempster came to her through a different route—via a phone call from trusted friend Shawn McLeod, who saw Dempster’s senior recital at SUNY Purchase and immediately called Robinson to tell her that she needed to see this young dancer.

“When I saw Kendell’s materials, I could see that he was well-trained,” says Robinson, “but when he came and danced—what a dancer! When you’re coming to re-invent yourself in a city like Denver, it can be tough to let people know who you are and what you can do. But Kendell is so talented and so driven—he jumped right in. He’s a leader and an inspiration.”

Though Dempster didn’t begin formal study of dance until age 15, his progress has been stunning, thanks to hard work and an early recognition of his talent by two teachers, Ronnie Carney and Kim Richardson, both at Newark Arts High School. Dempster’s first professional dance teacher, Alfred Gallman, and the judges for NJPAC’s 2004 Young Artist Talent Search also helped bring his gifts to center stage.

Through that annual NJPAC Arts Education program, Dempster was awarded the 2004 Star-Ledger Scholarship for Performing Arts, which sent him on to study at SUNY Purchase and to his current spot with Robinson’s legendary troupe, where he has been a member since 2007. Today, at age 25, he performs as both company member and soloist (and also designs and constructs costumes) for Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, which arrives on March 27 as part of NJPAC’s FamilyTime series.

Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain in 1984, Dempster has always had a passion for dance. “When we lived in the Caribbean, my mom took me to lots of festivals and I always wanted to join the dancers—especially the ones with the big, elaborate costumes,” he recalls. “When she brought me to his country for schooling, I would watch ice skating for hours—and I’d sit on the floor and just stretch.”

“Dancers usually have length in the body and are really slim, but I’m not that body type. I’m more muscular. When I perform, people usually don’t know what I can do. But once they see me dance, they say, ‘I didn’t know that kind of movement could come from a body like yours!’ When I perform, I become someone totally different.”

In addition to his interest in dance and choreography, the art of costume design has become another important facet of Dempster’s creative life. During his time at SUNY Purchase, he completed two internships at American Ballet Theatre’s wardrobe department—and at this point in his life, he sees no reason not to pursue that course in addition to his career in the spotlight.

“I’d like to have my own costume design label for Alvin Ailey and American Ballet Theatre and Broadway shows,” he says, looking beyond his years as a dancer. “I’m working on that now. When I go home, I spend my time drawing and sewing.”

“Kendell has become legendary at NJPAC,” says Sandra Bowie, Vice President for Arts Education, “not only because he is a soloist with this amazing company, but also because he is a member of the NJPAC community who is making a contribution to the world and to those students who will follow in his footsteps. He serves as something of a poster child. I can’t wait to see him back here and on the stage this spring!”

“When Kendell first came to NJPAC, he was a soft-spoken, uncertain yet earnest young man full of promise,” says NJPAC Assistant Vice President for Arts Education Sanaz Hojreh, whom Dempster credits as a major mentor. “Through the past few years, I’ve seen him blossom into an articulate and confident adult willing to share his immense talent with the world. Every time I think about him and his journey, I light up.”

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