City of Dance: An L.A. Dance Project Initiative

• June 4, 2026 | 6:30pm

The Marciano Art Foundation is pleased to host L.A. Dance Project for a performance of City of Dance, co‑presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project, which will take place at select locations around Los Angeles as part of its U.S. premiere, transforming iconic sites across the city into stages for free, site-specific performances.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 4, 2026, City of Dance will take place in the Lobby space at the Marciano Art Foundation.

Shortly following the dance performance, there will be a panel conversation in the Library including panelist Joshua Ramirez, Executive Director of Saint Remy Arts & Culture and Associate Education Specialist of Youth Programs at the J. Paul Getty Center; and moderator Lauren Mackler, writer, curator and founder of Public Fiction.

City of Dance is the U.S. adaptation of La Ville Dansée, the landmark Paris Dance Project initiative imagined by Benjamin Millepied.

City of Dance is meant to bring society face to face with dance, on equal footing, in the streets of the city. The body carries history. The city carries history. To take dance out of the jewel box of the theater, a space some do not feel invited into or cannot afford to enter, is to let those histories meet. That is the political force of this work: dance as a way of telling us who we are, through stories embedded in the city itself, challenging our empathy and our understanding of one another.

“The film Koyaanisqatsi found me in the late nineties and never left. Its political force — its warning of a world out of balance — has stayed with me ever since. For years, I dreamed of commissioning a dance to Philip Glass’s extraordinary score. My dream is the event of this year’s City of Dance. I imagined five choreographers, each taking on a specific musical section of the film, coming together to create a single work — a work defined by the velocity of technology and the toll it exacts on nature, on society, on us. Koyaanisqatsi is as urgent today as the day it was made. Perhaps more so. It has been a thrill for all of us to come together and make this piece.” — Benjamin Millepied, Artistic Director of L.A. Dance Project

L.A. Dance Project, led by artistic director Benjamin Millepied, is a nonprofit contemporary dance company founded in 2012. Based in Los Angeles’ downtown arts district, LADP creates and presents new work, supports artistic research and collaboration, and engages communities through performances, classes, and public programs. The company is committed to innovation, artistic integrity, and expanding how audiences experience dance today.

L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project present the U.S. premiere of City of Dance in 2026. L.A. Dance Project presents this new edition with a newly commissioned section, with foundational support from Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.

City of Dance was originally commissioned as La Ville Dansée by Paris Dance Project in 2025, with support from Chanel and Richard Mille, who continue to support Paris Dance Project’s artistic initiatives.