Palm Desert Choreography Festival
Palm Desert Choreography Festival is a dynamic live platform for dancemakers and dancers to showcase their work and powerfully engages audiences around dance in the Coachella Valley. Dedicated to dance as an art form, the Festival presents new, original choreography and features a competition in two divisions, a Lifetime Achievement Award presentation, outreach projects, workshops, and networking opportunities for choreographers and dancers.
Announcing the 2026 Festival Finalists!
Saturday, November 14 Choreographer(s)/ Company
Natasha Adorlee/ Houston Contemporary Dance Company (Houston, TX)
Gabriel Canepa (Portland, OR)
Noelle Kayser/ nk + collaborators (Chicago, IL)
Alexandra Light (New York, NY)
Jessica Liu (Mannheim, Germany)
Ben Needham-Wood/ Boulder Ballet (Boulder, CO)
Daniel Ojeda (Brooklyn, NY)
Ashley Roland/ BodyVox (Portland, OR)
Deanna Stanton/ Ballet Arkansas (Little Rock, AR)
Maté Szentes (Los Angeles, CA/Winnipeg, Canada)
Morgan Williams/ Water Street Dance Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI)
Sunday, November 15 Choreographer(s)/ Company
Kennedy Barry & Skylar Peterson/ The BP Project (Orange, CA)
Ericka J. Brown in collaboration with Dancers/ Ericka J. Brown (Riverside, CA)
Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya/ Hawkins School of Performing Arts (Folsom, CA)
Jeneane Huggins/Kagami (Las Vegas, NV)
Kally Jones/ School of Soul (Tulsa, OK)
Seyong Kim/ Western Dance Project (Kalamazoo, MI)
Gunta Liepina Miller/ Premier Youth Dance Company (Tustin,CA)
Michelle Manzanales/ University of Utah School of Dance (Salt Lake City, UT)
Amy Nakamura/ Mt. San Antonio College Repertory Company (Walnut, CA)
Robert Rimmer, Carolyn Tellez, Danny Inestroza, and Lyssy Salvador/ Summit Contemporary Fusion Group (La Habra, CA)
Tyler Schnese/ UVU Repertory Ballet Ensemble (Orem, UT)
Michelle Shear/ Mt. SAC Repertory Dance Company (Walnut, CA)
Natalie Willes/ Carousel Dance Company (West Hills, CA)
The 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award honors DWIGHT RHODEN, co-founding Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer of COMPLEXIONS Contemporary Ballet.
Now in its 29th year, Festival has attracted over 47,000 audience members, has placed 807 choreographers in the limelight and has granted over $900,000 in cash awards.
Those attending the Saturday event will witness the work of eleven choreographer finalists, competing for the $10,000 Grand Prize and $5,000 Second Place awards, and the Lifetime Achievement presentation to Dwight Rhoden.
On Sunday, the audience will see thirteen works compete for the $3,000 Grand Prize and $1,500 Second Place Award, and the presentation of an original work by local students from East Valley Dance Project. This outreach program gives student dancers from Desert Mirage and Coachella Valley High Schools in Thermal an opportunity to explore and create with professional choreographers over eight weeks, culminating with a performance on the McCallum Stage, alongside Festival Finalists.
Since 1998, the Festival has presented 807 original pieces of choreography and awarded over $900,000 to choreographers.
“I am beyond honored to have received the award and was truly stunned. What a beautiful win for Ririe-Woodbury and me together; we will forever remember this moment. Thank you for such a positive experience within the team, community, and festival.”
– Kellie St. Pierre/Ririe-Woodbury Dance, 2025 Grand Prize Award.
Photo by Jingzi Zhao
