Roderick George

Roderick George is a choreographer, performer, and director born and raised in Houston, Texas. He began his dance training at Ben Stevenson’s Houston Ballet Academy and continued his studies at The Alvin Ailey School and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), developing a practice grounded in both classical and contemporary movement traditions.

George has danced professionally with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Basel/Theater Basel, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, and The Forsythe Company. His performance career has included collaborations with choreographers working across ballet and contemporary forms—experiences that continue to inform his choreographic approach and commitment to physical rigor, emotional depth, and embodied research.

Following the closure of The Forsythe Company, George moved to Berlin in 2015 and founded kNoname Artist, a Berlin-founded and New York City–based collective created to support collaborative authorship and shared creative agency. The company develops project-based work that reflects lived experience and engages sociopolitical realities, centering care, memory, ancestry, and community as generative forces.

George’s choreographic work has been presented by institutions and festivals including Jacob’s Pillow, New York City Center (Fall for Dance Festival 2024 and 2025), New York Live Arts, Suzanne Dellal Centre, Zurich Tanzhaus, Sophiensæle Festspiele, Pavilion Noir | Ballet Preljocaj, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Pocantico Art Center, Harlem Stage, Guild Hall, Le Manège de Reims, Quartiers Danses Montréal, and Fall for Dance North / NIGHTSHIFT.

His honors include YoungArts Winner and Presidential Scholar in the Arts (2003), Youth America Grand Prix Bronze Medalist (2005), Emerging Choreographer awards from Youth America Grand Prix (2012) and Springboard Danse Montréal (2013), YoungArts Fellowship (2021–2022), the Mertz Gilmore Dancer Award (2023–2026), National Performance Network Creation & Development Fund Awardee (2024), the inaugural Jacob’s Pillow Men Dancers Award (2024), the Princess Grace Award in Choreography (2024), the inaugural Princess Grace Fellowship with support from The MAP Fund (2025), and New England Foundation for the Arts Finalist (2025).

Across his work as a maker, performer, and collaborator, George remains committed to creating environments that honor collective labor, amplify marginalized histories, and sustain artistic practice through care, rigor, and shared responsibility.

Photo: Laura Fuchs