The Dance Cartel is after a new brand of dance experience. Taking note of a dance community that often serves a niche audience, the Cartel creates dances that are vibrant, immersive and often participatory. Without sacrificing technical rigor or artistic ambition as a dance company, we endeavor to employ the social nature of dance, the charge of a party, and the sharpness of a music video to a fresh dance vocabulary that any Joe can get down with.


​ANI TAJ | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER
A native New Yorker, ANI TAJ is a choreographer, performer, and the founder and artistic director of The Dance Cartel. She choreographs contemporary musicals, plays, concerts, music videos, art parties, and she loves to make dances inspired by Brazilian Carnaval.
Since launching in 2012, The Dance Cartel’s acclaimed signature experience ONTHEFLOOR has toured diverse spaces including Ace Hotel NY, PS1/MoMA, the High Line, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Velocity Dance Center (Seattle), Bootleg Theater (LA), and OBERON (ART). Taj has choreographed music videos for Yoko Ono, Reggie Watts, Vic Mensa and The Sway Machinery, and her work with the Cartel has received support from NY Live Arts Studio Series, two LMCC Creative Engagement Awards, The Orchard Project and a BAX Summer Residency.
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While bridging gaps between dance and music scenes, Taj keeps one foot firmly in the world of live theater – most recently as a featured dancer inNatasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway. Theater choreography highlights include Runaways (NY City Center), Good Men Wanted(NYSAF), The Convent of Pleasure (Cherry Lane Mentor Project), The Nomad by Liz Swados (The Flea), Lazarus (Associate Choreographer, NYTW), Jesse Eisenberg’s Asuncion (Rattlestick).
Ani is an Adjunct Professor of dance and movement at NYU (Experimental Theatre Wing, Playwrights Horizons). She offers workshops and classes in tandem with most Cartel projects and periodically holds open classes in NYC.
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​SAM PINKLETON | CO-DIRECTOR, ONTHEFLOOR
SAM PINKLETON (co-director) is a director and choreographer based in New York City. His work on Broadway as a choreographer includes Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Tony Nomination - Best Choreography); Significant Other; Amélie; Machinal; and Heisenberg. His work has been seen at BAM, Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout, MTC, Theatre For A New Audience, American Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Center Theatre Group, Actors Theatre of Louisville, McCarter Theatre, and Kansas City Rep. As a director his work spans from hotel basements to Carnegie Hall. He is a collaborating artist with Pig Iron Theatre Company and The Civilians and is Artistic Associate for New York City Center Encores Off-Center, where he directed Runaways. He does not own any dance shoes.
ALEXANDRA ALBRECHT | AUDREY HAILES | AZIZA BARNES | CHINAZA UCHE | CYNDI PERCZEK | DANIKA MANSO-BROWN | EMILY BASS | JOSHUA PALMER | JUSTIN PEREZ | NICHI DOUGLAS | SUNNY HITT | THOMAS GIBBONS | VIEW BIOS > ​​​
