CityDance Ensemble is a professional, multi-cultural, Washington, DC-based modern repertory dance company that provides choreographic and performing opportunities for leading area talent, and fosters artistic excellence in dance and the performing arts. CityDance recognizes the essential nature of community service, and is committed to an extensive, broadly-based program which brings dance and arts education to young people throughout the Washington Metropolitan area.

CityDance Ensemble's mission is to provide accessible, outstanding, professional modern dance performance to a diverse audience while achieving recognized artistic excellence within the mid-Atlantic arts community; and to provide critically needed services in the art of dance to the youth of the National Capital Area.

Paul Gordon Emerson is the director of City Dance Ensemble and was instrumental in the collaboration with Popular Immunology to put together the "Lupus Dance" for this issue. CityDance Ensemble will provide a moving exploration of the highlighted disease accompanied by an original musical composition for each issue. The "Lupus Dance" was choreographed by CDE dancer Ludovic Jolivet, and the music was composed by fellow dancer Francesca Jandasek.

A native of New York City, Paul Gordon Emerson was the founding artistic director of the Dupont Alley Dance Company, director of the Dance for Life Aids benefit series and director of last season's Benefit for the Jack Guidone Theater, which spurred the renovations and completion of the theater. The Washington Post has characterized his choreography as "Bold, daring and poignant," and filled with "satisfying patterns and strong emotional pull." He has set work for CrossCurrents Dance Company, with whom he has also danced, Dupont Alley, Georgetown University, the Georgetown Day School and CityDance, among others. His 1998 calendar, "On the Move: Washington Dances," was the subject of an article by Sarah Kaufman of the Washington Post. He has lectured on photography in dance and the performing arts at Dance Place and at the World Bank. He is the sponsor of the DanceDC website, which is dedicated to promoting dance and dance companies in the area free-of-charge. A former legislative director and defense analyst on Capitol Hill, he has directed his own communications firm, Emerson Associates. He is currently Director of Communications and Macintosh technical services at the Hub Internet Services and Knight Computing.

Ludovic Jolivet, a native of Paris, France, worked as an actor for five years in Europe. He began his dance training in Ballroom technique and came to the U.S. in 1992 to study acting and dance. He earned his B.F.A. in dance from Wright State University in Ohio. Mr. Jolivet has performed with ballet and modern dance companies in the Dayton area and his musical theatre experience includes roles in A Chorus Line and Guys and Dolls. He is a graduate student in choreography at the University of Maryland where he is teaching modern and jazz dance technique.

Francesca Jandasek (CityDance Ensemble Composer in Residence), of Czech descent, was born in Namibia, Africa and naturalized in America. Her international upbringing has nurtured a deep commitment to the performing and visual arts, and a belief that the arts are a universal language. Her goal is to actively enrich the lives of people of different communities, cultures and abilities through the performance, promotion, creation and teaching of the arts. Her music has been performed during the 2000 and 2001 CityDance Ensemble performances at Dance Place, and can be heard on the "CityDance Suites I and II " CD. She has worked with Tanec Praha in the Czech Republic, an organization that brings the International Modern Dance Festival to Prague and performed with the Propoganda Dance Theater, Katerina Kopsidas, and Emily Crews in Washington D.C., and Choreographie Antique in Towson, MD. Ms. Jandasek also has a great passion for painting, drawing, creative writing, and foreign languages. A graduate from Goucher College with a double major in Spanish and International/ Intercultural Studies, she has also studied at the University of Salamanca in Spain, the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Peabody Preparatory in Baltimore, MD. She currently works with CityDance Ensemble as development person, resident composer, musician, and dancer.

Please see more about CityDance Ensemble at www.citydance.net.