12 JANUARY 22-28, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Call Elaine Lustig, PhD .......................................................... at 303-369-7770 Needing Your Emotional ....... Animal W/ You? For eligible people who need their emotional support animal to accompany them at/or away from home, I am available to provide the documentation and counseling. CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED Westword, relishes what he calls “The Kiss.” That’s the place between the new building and the historic church, which, as a National Historic Landmark, had to be preserved. “The building really just kisses the church,” Fentress explains. “It doesn’t sup- port off the church or have any structural connection to the church. It’s supported on columns that are set back from the founda- tion. There’s a space there, and there’s no chance of interrupting the foundation of the church.” Mortenson, which has worked on proj- ects including the DAM, Ball Arena and Coors Field, had to make a few adjustments. “Fentress decided to go with an atrium- style lobby so that you would still be able to see the brick from the exterior, as well as when you walk in, and there’s a skylight that runs across the elevation that really showcases all the existing windows,” says Mortenson’s project manager Tori Vende- gna. “...Across the entire elevation, there’s a fi ve-inch expansion joint that runs up the vertical base, along the horizontal and back down the vertical base, so it will allow for any movement as the new building comes into its own and settles a bit.” It was by no means an easy process, since everything had to fi t on a small footprint of only 6,000 square feet. A neighboring dog park had to be demolished, as did the old facility’s annex, which is where its elevator was. For about a year, there was a two-lane street closure outside to give Mortenson more room for construction, which wasn’t ideal since CPRD is across the street from a Safeway. But Vendegna says it’s been a once- in-a-lifetime experience. “I’ve always thought of a building as being almost like a body,” she says. “I think of the structure as the bones and the exterior as the skin. The interior makes up the insides of your body. But what I’ve really come to fi nd out as they’re moving in their furniture and dancers are having classes is that they are bringing life into the building. They’re bringing in the heart.” An Invitation Parker Robinson feels it, too. “The fact that we are connected to the Shorter AME Church, we already feel the ancestors that are in that space and moving into this new space,” she says. “It’s seamless. It’s like a spiral of energy.” Lee sees the completion of the project as an invitation from Parker Robinson to the Denver community: “She is inviting every- body to come to the new space and telling them, ‘Come here, learn, engage during events and be together.’” And for Parker Robinson, being together is kind of the whole point. “We’re all looking not to be isolated islands from each other,” she says. “We’re not islands. We’re here col- lectively. We come alone and we leave alone, but in the middle of all that, we become this larger being, and that’s the potential of work- ing through all our bad stuff.” Parker Robinson runs the artistic side of the company, while her son, Malik Robinson, followed in the footsteps of his late father, Tom Robinson, to take over the administra- tive side of the nonprofi t. Malik, who became president and CEO of CPRD in 2024, has big plans for the dance institution, many of them related to access. “You can build a beautiful edifi ce, which this is, but there are still barriers to making sure that it’s accessible to people who are probably most in need of it,” he says. “We want to make sure that we’re providing pathways for those folks to come in, access it, experience it and benefi t from it.” And Parker Robinson’s message for Den- ver is to come on in. “I want to fi ll these beautiful spaces with people of all ages and backgrounds, and have people dancing day and night, and people standing in Safeway or watching us perform from their car windows and coming in to meet new people,” she says. “It’s going to be a mecca for all kinds of creative experiences.” Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, 2025 Washington Street, will hold a free open house from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 24, for the com- munity to meet teachers, try classes and explore the new space. Email the author at kristen.fi [email protected]. Culture continued from page 10 “The Kiss” between the two buildings. KRISTEN FIORE
