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, Basel Ballet/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, clarity, and embodied research.
In 2015, George founded kNoname Artist, a Berlin-founded, 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, 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, Zurich Tanzhaus, Sophiensæle Festspiele, Pavilion Noir | Ballet Preljocaj, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Pocantico Art Center, HarlemStage, Guild Hall, and Fall for Dance North / NIGHTSHIFT.
His work has been supported through the following honors and awards: YoungArts Winner and Presidential Scholar of the Arts (2003); Youth America Grand Prix Bronze Medalist (2005); Emerging Choreographer, Youth America Grand Prix (2012); Emerging Choreographer, Springboard Danse Montréal (2013); YoungArts Fellow (2021–2022); Mertz Gilmore Dancer Award (2023–2026); National Performance Network Creation & Development Fund Awardee (2024); inaugural Jacob’s Pillow Men Dancers Award (2024); Princess Grace Award (2024); Princess Grace Artist Fellowship Grant with support from The MAP Fund (2025); and New England Foundation for the Arts Finalist (2025). An earlier iteration of The Grave’s Tears received the inaugural Jacob’s Pillow Men Dancers Award.
Across his work as a maker and collaborator, George remains committed to creating environments that honor collective labor, amplify marginalized histories, and sustain artistic practice through care and shared responsibility.
