About Stephen Petronio

Stephen Petronio is an acclaimed choreographer, dancer, and artistic director known for his innovative and boundary-pushing work in contemporary dance. One of the foremost American choreographers of his generation, he has built a distinct and powerful movement language that speaks to the intuitive and complex possibilities of the body in all its polygendered glory and informed by its shifting cultural context. His language melds a fluid and released physicality with the virtuosic stretch of a more classical technique built into rigorously chaotic structures.

Born in Newark, NJ, Petronio received a B.A. from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where he began his early training in improvisation and dance technique. He was greatly influenced by working with Steve Paxton and was the first male dancer of the Trisha Brown Dance Company (1979-86).

In 1984, Petronio founded the Stephen Petronio Company, committed to the creation and presentation of new and existing works and to touring internationally. The Company quickly gained recognition for its bold and visually striking performances. He created over 70 works for his Company and has been commissioned by some of the world’s most prestigious modern and ballet companies, including Ballet Frankfurt, Lyon Opera Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, Noordans, The Scottish Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet de Lorraine, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Petronio has collaborated with some of the most innovative artists of our time, including multiple works with visual artists Cindy Sherman, Anish Kapoor, Robert Longo, Janine Antoni, and Teresita Fernandez; composers Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Nico Muhly, Rufus Wainwright, Jozef Van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch, Ryan Lott/Son Lux, Monstah Black, Michael Volpe (aka Clams Casino), Michael Nyman, and David Linton; fashion designers Narciso Rodriguez, Tara Subkoff/Imitation of Christ, Benjamin Cho, Patricia Field/Iris Bonner, Leigh Bowery, Tanya Sarne/Ghost, Manolo, and Michelle Rhee, as well as choreographers Anna Halprin, Michael Clark, and Johnnie Cruise Mercer.

Commissions from major venues include Dance Umbrella Festival (London), Hebbel-Theater (Berlin), Scène National de Sceaux (France), Festival d’Automne à Paris, CNDC Angers (France), The Holland Festival, Montpellier Danse Festival, Danceworks UK Ltd., Festival de Danse–Cannes, San Francisco Performances, The Joyce Theater (New York City), UCSB Arts & Lectures (Santa Barbara, CA), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, OH), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), and White Bird (Portland, OR), among others.

Petronio has received numerous accolades, including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, an American Choreographer Award, a New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award, and a Doris Duke Artist Award. In 2007, he was inducted into the Nutley, New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Petronio’s visionary creative output over the last 40 years is multifaceted. In 2014, he conceived the signature initiatives Bloodlines to honor the experimental Judson pioneers who inspired him and Bloodlines(future) to support a more diverse generation of choreographers in this artistic lineage. In 2017, the Company founded the Petronio Residency Center (PRC) in the pristine Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. A research and development facility for movement-based artists, PRC was conceived to provide essential support in a nurturing environment for vibrant talent in the dance world. In 2021, with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, PRC established a permanent conservation easement for 77 acres of the 172-acre property, designating The Doris Duke Preserve at Round Top, Greene County, a forever-wild preserve that attaches to the Catskill State Preserve and expands its footprint. Though the residency center closed its doors in 2023, it left an indelible mark on more than 100 artists and leaves behind a tangible contribution—the conservancy—that will live on in perpetuity.

In 2013 Petronio published a memoir, Confessions of a Motion Addict, and in 2020, he published a Covid-19 pandemic journal entitled In Absentia.

Stephen Petronio’s contributions to the field of contemporary dance have had a lasting impact on the art form. His fearless exploration of movement, his commitment to collaboration, and his relentless pursuit of innovation have solidified his place as one of the most influential choreographers of his generation. In 2026, Petronio joined the Board of Directors of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

The 2025-26 season marked the final season of the Stephen Petronio Company. The Company closed its doors after a legendary 40-year run as Stephen Petronio transitions to independent creative projects.