Every fall, the artistic directors behind Utah’s most treasured cultural institutions step forward and make their case — not with tidy mission statements but with the season itself: This is what’s worth your time. This is what they believe will move you. We asked five directors to share the production they’re most excited about this year, the show they’d recommend to a first-time audience member, and whether a common theme or artistic vision emerged as they carefully shaped the season ahead.
Repertory Dance Theatre
Season Summary: A contemporary-forward season combining new work, historic repertory, and community-focused programming.
NICHOLAS CENDESE AND LYNNE LARSON, CO-EXECUTIVE/ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
Repertory Dance Theatre marks a milestone season with a sense of reflection and reinvention. Celebrating its 60th year, the Salt Lake City modern dance institution is entering a new era. Founding dancer and longtime director Linda C. Smith has passed the reins to company veterans Nicholas Cendese and Lynne Larson.
“It’s a full-circle moment,” Cendese says. “We’re bringing back pieces and faces to celebrate our history and say thank you to the RDT family.”
The company has framed the year as a “season of gratitude,” a nod to six decades of modern dance — and, perhaps unexpectedly, to the audience’s appetite for the past. During anniversary events earlier in the year, Cendese recalls, something surprising kept happening.
“People would come up to me — especially younger audience members — and say how much they loved the older works,” he says. “I turned to Lynne and said, ‘Maybe we need to do more of the history.’ Who knew?”
That sense of rediscovery runs through the season’s programming. October’s Legend & Lore draws on Martha Graham’s Dark Meadow Suite and turns its attention to the myths and landscapes of the American Southwest, where nature itself becomes a kind of choreography.
But perhaps the season’s most ambitious experiment comes in March with So You Think You Can Choreograph, an interactive project that invites community members into the creative process. “This is an open call,” Larson says. “We’re looking for four folks who have something to say and could be paired with a dancer who can help express their idea in movement.”
“Now is such a great time to engage with us,” Cendese says. He points to November’s Laughter program — spanning Judy Garland hits to bluegrass numbers — as an accessible entry point for new audiences.
Larson adds, “We think it’s the perfect season to discover — or rediscover — modern dance’s ability to move and entertain you.”
REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE 2026-2027 SEASON
2026 SEASON
Legend & Lore || Oct 1-3
Laughter || Nov 19-21
2027 SEASON
Emerge || Jan 8-9
So You Think You Can Choreography || Mar 6
Luminary || Apr 15-17
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