Jane Franklin founded Jane Franklin Dance in Arlington in 1997. Over 28 years (1997–2025), she played a central role in the organization as a performer, choreographer, educator, and administrative director. Franklin earned an MFA from The Ohio State University as a University Fellow and holds certification from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies. Her choreography has been presented widely across the Mid-Atlantic and Southwestern United States, as well as internationally in the United Kingdom and Mexico.
Her company performed at notable venues and festivals including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Dance Place, Grace Street Theater, Dance Bethesda, Old Dominion University’s Choreographers’ Showcase, International Dance Festival, the Charlotte Dance Festival, and Yes, Virginia Dance!. Internationally, her work was presented in Mexico, including the interactive project Temporal Interference, later performed at the University of Colorado Denver College of Arts & Media.
As a choreographer, Franklin is known for innovative, collaborative projects that integrate dance with unconventional elements, including round-wall skateboarding communities, life-size kinetic sculpture, site-specific architecture, dogs and their owners, and interactive live video and sound in public art contexts.
Her projects have received recurring support from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, Alexandria Commission for the Arts, Arlington Commission for the Arts, and the American Composers Forum (Washington, DC Chapter), as well as foundations such as the Arlington Community Foundation and Washington Forrest Foundation. She was awarded a Community Foundation for the National Capital Region Creative Communities Initiative grant for Breaking Ground, a dance/video project inspired by round-wall skateboarding.
Her installation-based dance work Incidence was presented by Mead Theatre Lab. In 2023, Franklin was named Artist-in-Residence by the Alexandria Commission for the Arts and Office of the Arts for Site See, an outdoor installation at Waterfront Park. Additional recognitions include selection for Source Festival Artistic Blind Dates, the American Association of University Women Elizabeth Campbell Award for the Advancement of the Arts, Special Opportunity Awards from the City of Alexandria, and support from Arlington Economic Development, including its Nonprofit Capacity Building Program and a BizLaunch ReNew award. Her video work has also been featured in PHOTO/VIDEO 13: Juried Mid-Atlantic Exhibition.
Jane Franklin Dance has participated in numerous regional festivals, including VelocityDC Dance Festival, Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival, Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, and Capital Fringe Festival. Franklin’s commitment to community engagement has led to after-school programs, summer intensives, intergenerational dance projects, and the Forty+ Project for dancers over age 40.
In addition to her creative work, Franklin has written as a dance reviewer for DC Theater Arts and continues to explore connections between movement, people, and place. Now based in Santa Fe, she serves as a docent at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. In Santa Fe, Jane Franklin Dance remains active as a performing arts advocate and collaborative partner.
