Christian Denice is a Los Angeles–born dancer, choreographer, and educator whose career bridges classical ballet and contemporary dance with a distinctly human-centered voice. As a performer, he has danced with an array of internationally recognized companies including Odyssey Dance Theatre, River North Dance Chicago, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, and Andonis Foniadakis Dance Company in Athens, Greece. His artistry has been widely recognized: he was named one of Time Out Chicago’s Top Ten Male Dancers and was honored as a Chicago Tribune Notable Dancer in 2010.
As a choreographer, Christian has built an extensive body of work for professional dance companies across the United States and abroad. His choreographic credits include Cincinnati Ballet, Nevada Ballet Theatre, BalletX, Chamber Dance Project, Ballet22, DanceWorks Chicago, Marigny Opera Ballet, Odyssey Dance Theatre, Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, MADCO, Eisenhower Dance Detroit, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, Kit Modus, Dance Lab New York, and Wylliams Henry Contemporary Dance Company, among many others. His work has also been commissioned by universities and training programs nationwide, and he continues to teach, create, and stage choreography internationally.
Christian’s choreographic voice is rooted in an exploration of the complexities of the human experience. His work often balances physical rigor with emotional accessibility, using movement as a vehicle for reflection, sensation, and connection. He is the recipient of the 2015 University of South Florida Echo Choreographic Competition award and was selected as a choreographer for the Joffrey Academy’s Winning Works program in 2016. He also served as a Choreographic Fellow with BalletX, where he premiered a new work featuring an original score by composer Philip Daniel.
Most recently, Christian created his first full-length, original narrative ballet for Marigny Opera Ballet, which premiered in December. His residencies include Kennesaw State University, Keshet Center for the Arts, Georgetown University, the University of Missouri–Kansas City, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Interlochen, and Western Michigan University. In addition to his choreographic career, Christian continues to perform as a dancer with acclaimed Greek choreographer Andonis Foniadakis and frequently stages Foniadakis’s work throughout the United States and Europe. He has also served as a répétiteur and rehearsal director for ISHIDA Dance.
