About

OUR STORY

Year 2024 marks the return of the Ramos Dance. The company was conceived in July 1997, making its debut at Joyce SoHo to critical acclaim and a standing room only audience. Following that year, the company has appeared in venues including the Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Cunningham Studio, Philippines Independence Day Celebration, Rivertowns Arts Council '97, '99 & '00 Dance Festivals, Huntington Summer Arts Festival, 17th Annual Downtown Dance Festival, Pier 63 July 4th Celebration '98, Out on the Edge Together Festival '98, the DRA Remember Project '97 - '00, and Dance Now '98 - 01. Puffin Foundation & Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church commissioned "Silent/Listen" in 1999.

Ramos Dance is a not-for-profit contemporary dance company that highlights the works of choreographer Chris DC Ramos. The company addresses issues of cultural and social diversity and the complexity of interpersonal relationships through live performances and arts-in-education programs. Through cross-cultural understanding, commissioning original music scores and theatrical designs, Ramos Dance advocates an appreciation for the history and evolution of contemporary dance as an art form.

It has been more than 20 years since Ramos Dance graced the stage and the company is looking forward to developing new dances for the 21^st century. Ramos Dance strives to provide an aesthetic mix of dance, staging, and costuming that delivers strong entertainment value while at the same time provoking audience thought and self-contemplation.

ABOUT

PAST PRAISES

“Grace, athleticism, strong dancing, musicality, and live music all complement Ramos’ easy treatment of topics from the mundane to the serious… Ramos’ excellent dancers are obviously comfortable with his movement vocabulary.”

- Susan Yung, Citysearch.com

November 23, 1998

“The most imaginative work was Chris DC Ramos Lost a crisply athletic duet with flowing semaphoric hand gestures, danced by Mr. Ramos and Ricky Santiago to music by Samuel Barber.”

- Jennifer Dunning, New York Times

APRIL 29, 1997

“In Lost, the dancers’ strength is tangible not only in demanding movement but also in powerful emotional bond between the two, who work flawlessly together.”

- Susan Yung, Dance Online

May 1997

ABOUT

CHRIS DC RAMOS

The year 2024 marks the return of Chris DC Ramos on stage as a performer and choreographer. Chris first received recognition in choreography at the Hawaii State Dance Council Choreographic Awards and was nominated for the American Choreographers Award in 1989. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, he then moved to Hawaii in 1980 where he began his early training in ballet with his mentor/teacher James McCuen. He holds a BFA degree in dance from the University of Hawaii-Manoa where he received awards for Academic Excellence and the Yasuki Sasa Award for Excellence in Dance. In 1989, Chris received an apprenticeship position with the School of Hartford Ballet - a move that brought him to the East Coast.

As a choreographer, Ramos dances had been showcased in venues including Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, Dance Now '98 - '00, 17th Annual Downtown Dance Festivals, Pier 63 July 4th Celebration, Out On the Edge Together Festival '98, DRA '97 - '00 "Remember Project," Rivertowns Arts Council '98 - '00, Broome Corner Studio, Free Range Arts "Home Cooking," New Choreographers On Point "Ballet Builders," Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Dance Theater Workshop, Soho Dance Festival, Battery Downtown Dance Festival, Gowanus Arts Exchange, Soundance Choreographers' 4th and 5th Showcases, the 92nd St. Y, Evolving Arts' 7th Choreographer's Showcase, St. Barthelemy Music and Dance Festival in 1992 and Dances We Dance in Hawaii. Ramos’ dance entitled Silent/Listen presented at Danspace Project was a commissioned work by the Puffin Foundation.

As a performer, Ramos has danced with major dance companies in Hawaii such as the McCuen Ballet Theatre, Kaimuki Dance Theatre, Hawaii Ballet Theatre, Ballet Hawaii and Dances We Dance. In New York/New Jersey, he has performed with Mimi Garrard Dance Company, The Kevin Wynn Collection, Nicholas Rodriguez & DanceCompass, American Dance Ensemble, and Soundance Repertory Company.

As an arts-educator, Ramos has taught master classes at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, Queen Emma Dance Center (Hawaii), Dance World Academy (New Jersey), St. Barthelemy, and Soundance Studio (New York). Ramos has been awarded by the New Jersey Artist-in-Education (AIE) residences for the period of 2000-2003. Ramos’s artist residencies include Woodrow Wilson School (Weehawken) and Johnson Park School (Princeton) both of which received great reviews from students and parents.