Carla Perlo, courtesy Dance Place and the artist.

Written by DCist contributor Amanda Abrams

One of the cool things about living in D.C. right now is that there are still movers and shakers around who have been instrumental in coaxing the city from its sleepy period a few decades back to its current status as an increasingly cosmopolitan place. Carla Perlo is one of those folks. A Washington-area native, she founded Dance Place in 1980 in an effort to give the region’s few modern dancers another venue for classes and performances. That was back in Adams Morgan, before the rents in that neighborhood went sky high and she was forced to leave.

Thirty years later, Perlo’s organization, now based in Brookland, lies at the heart of the city’s swelling dance community and can claim a good bit of responsibility for the still-growing number of dancers and companies who call Washington home.

Dance Place is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with a series of performances featuring longtime allies and collaborators. Perlo herself is marking it, in part, by changing directions: this weekend features the last annual performance by Carla & Co., one of Dance Place’s in-house companies. After 18 years of running the group, she’ll be turning her focus back to the organization itself as it continues to evolve.

Perlo spoke with DCist about how dance has grown across the region and what makes artists the indispensable catalysts of a city’s development.

How did you initially get into D.C.’s dance scene?

When I first came back in to the area in 1975, it was specifically to work with [dancer] Jan Van Dyke, a Washingtonian. During that period, she was able to acquire a large studio space in Adams Morgan, at 2424 18th Street. I worked with her to develop that studio theater for five years, until 1980. Then she decided it was too much work for her and she went to New York, and I took it over. I was 28 years old and that was a big undertaking for me, a big risk.