ABOUT staibdance
Founded in 2007, staibdance is an Atlanta-based contemporary dance company known for its raw physicality, arresting imagery, and emotionally charged theatricality. Led by Iranian-Armenian Artistic Director George Staib, the company creates immersive evening-length works that draw from multicultural perspectives to probe the complexity of the human experience. Each project is crafted with rigor and risk—inviting audiences into spaces of reckoning, beauty, and shared humanity.
With ten original works in its repertoire—three currently touring—staibdance has been presented by the American Dance Festival, Opening Nights at Florida State University, Alabama Dance Festival, Temple University, and The Historic Bama Theatre, among others. Its most recent production, between dog and wolf, unfolded across five distinct Atlanta locations during a month-long run in October 2025, exemplifying the company’s commitment to bold, place-based performance.
Beyond the stage, staibdance invests deeply in artistic development and cultural exchange. Root Theory, its annual winter intensive, merges rigorous movement research with cross-disciplinary inquiry. Its two-week summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy unites world-renowned faculty with 50 emerging artists for immersive study, artistic exploration and transformative experiences.
The company’s curatorial platform, (MC)2, is a bi-annual multicultural dance festival that unites Atlanta’s culturally rooted dance organizations for six days of classes, performances, and community dialogue. The festival has expanded into a video docuseries Meaning and Movement, and a podcast Secret Architecture: the process of process, amplifying conversations around artistry, identity, and creative practice.
At its core, staibdance builds work—and community—through fearless exchange, cultural curiosity, and the transformative power of dance.
Our mission
We use the transformative art of contemporary dance to explore universal aspects of the human experience that inspire, engage, and build community.
Significant highlights marking staibdance’s growth
2018
“The Rite of Spring” with Maestro Robert Spano and Pianist Elena Cholakova premiered, featuring original choreography by George Staib & Sarah Hillmer. ArtsATL named it the most outstanding dance collaboration of the year.
2019
“fence” premiered, funded by New England Foundation for the Arts, named as a “challenging, important new work” by ArtsATL and “deeply affecting and rhetorically expressive” by Art Papers.
2020
Launched a podcast series titled Secret Architecture: the process of process, featuring art makers and art presenters in dialogue about issues of interpretation, history, and art-making. Named by Welp Magazine, London as one of the top 20 new podcasts.
2021
Inaugurated Atlanta's first ever multi-cultural dance festival - (MC)2: a week-long event of 22 classes, 2 performances, 2 community conversations, engaging 12 of Atlanta’s preeminent cultural dance groups, all free to the public. The bi-annual festival returned in June 2023.
2021 & 2022
Toured “fence” to Alabama Dance Festival (Birmingham, AL), Oxford College (Oxford, GA), Temple University (Philadelphia, PA), and Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL).
2022
Launched (MC)2: Meaning and Movement, a docuseries - sharing the stories of Atlanta’s dynamic cultural artists to over 12,000+ online viewers and interactions.
2023
“fence” was presented by American Dance Festival as part of their 90th anniversary season.
2023
staibdance became the inaugural company of the High Museum’s Dance Lab initiative, offering museum-goers an inside look at the creation process for ARARAT.
2024
“Dido and Aeneas”, created in collaboration with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, was presented at the Glenn Memorial Chapel and Spivey Hall.
2024
“ARARAT” premiered, a new multi-media work considering the history and resilience of the Armenian people.
2025
The month-long, multi-venue premiere of “between dog and wolf”at venues including DramaTech Theatre, Brookhaven Dance, The Trolley Barn, The PAL Theatre and Wild Heaven West End Brewery.
staibdance has been awarded funding by:
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
City of Atlanta, Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs
Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The Emory University Research Committee
Fulton County Arts & Culture
Georgia Council for the Arts
The Latham Foundation
The National Endowment for the Arts
The New England Foundation for the Arts
New Music USA
South Arts
AEC Trust
The Imlay Foundation
Tri-M Foundation
The Foster G. McGaw Educational Foundation