In 2007, Garrett Ammon and Dawn Fay moved to Colorado to take the helm of a small professional ballet company in the suburbs of Denver. Under their guidance, the company, then known as Ballet Nouveau Colorado, was transformed into a rostrum for the creation and presentation of new choreography and the nurturing of contemporary dance artists.
Ammon and Fay started from scratch with the company’s performance repertoire, creating all new work that respected the past but embraced the future. With a commitment to dance that was both artistically rich and highly accessible, the organization’s vision filled an important void in the region’s dance offerings and captured the imagination of a new and enthusiastic audience.
By creating shows to rock and pop music, integrating multimedia technology, and embracing social media in creative ways, the organization garnered a lot of attention both locally and nationally, including being named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2009.
As Ammon familiarized himself with the Denver arts scene, he began developing productions with the area’s diverse range of artists. In the following years, multi-medium collaborations would come to define the dance company as it took remarkable journeys with writers from Lighthouse Writers Workshop, musicians like Paper Bird and Jesse Manley, visual artists from RedLine, and photographers like Mark Sink and Kristen Hatgi Sink.
Over the course of five years, the artistic vision of Ammon and Fay helped to define the company as a creative leader in the state of Colorado. By collaborating with artists across a spectrum of mediums, the company created transformative experiences that upended notions about how dance can be created and shared in the community.
In March 2013, less than one year after the development process with Bonfils-Stanton Foundation began, Wonderbound made the move to a 1920’s United States Post Office Garage at the confluence of Denver’s Arapahoe Square, Ballpark, Curtis Park, Five Points and RiNo Neighborhoods.
Wonderbound’s move captured the imagination of the community, opened new avenues of opportunity and was celebrated as a daring organizational and artistic move. In an economic and social climate that was inhospitable to traditional performing arts models, Wonderbound’s vision for the future shined bright—two months after relocating, Wonderbound was awarded a $250,000 ArtPlace America Creative Placemaking grant.
Wonderbound had been reborn as an American dance company living at the convergence of tradition and innovation, vulnerability and courage, and intimacy and openness. The organization’s multi-talented artists embraced these paradoxical ideals and their capacity, creativity and daring rose to new heights. They reveled in the idea that Wonderbound was forging a new path and building a new model for how the performing arts could be created, supported and shared in a rapidly evolving world.
In 2020, Wonderbound relocated to 3824 Dahlia Street. The building was previously the artist studio of renowned sculptor and Denver icon, Ed Dwight. On February 1, 2021, Wonderbound purchased the property and began planning renovations. In May 2023, Wonderbound opened its newly renovated facility and theater. Owning its permanent home further solidifies Wonderbound as an important and enduring institution in Denver’s arts community and is allowing the organization to dream bigger and to serve its broad and diverse community more fully.