Cleveland Dance Project is preparing to host its 15th semiannual showcase this weekend, marking an achievement as the largest all-adult dance showcase in Northeast Ohio.
As an all-adult dance studio, Cleveland Dance Project, founded in 2017, opened their studio doors for any 18+ dancers from local areas. Director and Founder Anna Cerveny said that her initial goal for the studio was to create a space for dancers to be able to continue performing in their adult lives, while promoting confidence and wellness. Today, roughly 200 dancers perform in their biannual showcase — but it didn’t start that way.
In 2017, Cerveny opened Cleveland Dance Project when she noticed the lack of community performance opportunities for adult dancers in the area and wanted to fill the void.
“My goal initially was that I wanted to continue to dance as an adult in a space where I wasn’t surrounded by children,” Cerveny, 35, said. “At the time, Cleveland only had open classes where it was mostly studio kids, and some adults could come.”
After craving a performance opportunity, Cerveny pitched the idea of an open, adult dance showcase to local studio owner friends, who agreed to rent their studios for rehearsal space in order to support the cause.
Season one of CDP then began as a Facebook event, in which Cerveny posted an open call for local dancers and choreographers who wanted to participate in the performance opportunity. Roughly 50 dancers participated.
Today, the studio has grown into a community of over 200 adult dancers from all different cities, professions and backgrounds. After renting studio spaces for six years, Cerveny was eventually able to find a permanent home for her dancers, opening her own studio located in Independence in 2023, which she says she never expected.
“I never aspired to be a business woman or a studio owner,” Cerveny, a physical therapist by day, said. “I just really wanted this thing and it didn’t exist, so I said, ‘I’m just going to do it myself.’”
The new studio allowed Cerveny to host drop-in classes in addition to showcase rehearsals, allowing a space for more dancers to be welcomed in and an opportunity for her business to grow.
Cleveland Dance Project is now preparing for its 15th showcase on April 12, starring a diverse cast, composed of both men and women, ranging from business professionals, healthcare workers, college students, mothers and more.
One of these dancers is Karen Konopacki, dancing in her fourth showcase with the company, who said that one of her favorite parts of dancing is how dynamic and diverse the cast is when it comes to age or skill level.
“It’s all older people that still have a love for dance,” Konopacki, 41, said. “If you’re really good or really bad, there’s a spot for you.”
According to Konopacki, one of the best parts about dancing at CDP isn’t even the dancing, it’s the friendships and connections she made with other adult dancers who share her same passion.
“I’ve just made so many new friends,” Konopackitold The Land. “Sometimes when you get older, people get married or have kids, and friendships that you’ve created through high school and college just separate and you don’t have time for anybody. Through CDP, I’ve just made a lot of new friends that are also in the same place I am in life. We’ve all connected on different levels, even outside of the CDP studio.”
Cerveny agreed, pointing out that anyone can dance. As a physical therapist, she preaches physical and mental wellness, and hopes that her studio space offers opportunities for both.
“Seeing so many different people on stage from all shapes, sizes, color, backgrounds and abilities is really powerful for the young dancer growing up and just the average human,” Cerveny said. “Everyone can dance. And there is so much positive in everyone dancing.”
The upcoming showcase will be held at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School on April 12, with two performances at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. For ticket information, visit their website.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story referred to Karen Konopacki as Karen Koopacki. We’ve corrected this error and apologize for the mistake.
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