Rod Rodgers grew up in a family of professional dancers in the mid-west and established a company in New York in 1974. His dances reflect his training and experience as a musician, photographer and visual artist, and synthesize a modern dance vocabulary with African and American elements. In his several styles of modern dance, there is a strong strain of dramatic social commentary. His signature pieces include four rhythmdances, "Rhythm Ritual," "Tangents," "Percussion Suite" and "ICTUS," and four major works of social commentary, "Box '71," "Victims," "Cameos of Women" and a multi-arts series called "Poets and Peacemakers." The company recently participated in the Langston Hughes Anniversary Festival at the Schomberg Center with "Langston Lives!" from the "Poets and Peacemakers" series.

Rodgers has received fellowships and commissions from NYSCA, the Rockefeller Foundation, the NEA, Creative Artists in Public Service, the Beard Fund, and John Hay Whitney Foundation, and others. His works are in the repertoires of a number of companies. He received a Spirit of Detroit Creative Award and an AUDELCO Award for innovative audience development. The Rod Rodgers Dance Company is also known for its outreach initiatives that take dance programs to under-served audiences in community and school settings. Performances during February were presented at the Langston Hughes Library, Museum of Natural History and St. John's University.

The company debuted "Quest," a work about Malcolm X, at La MaMa in 1995. It last appeared at La MaMa in 1999 with an evening of three dances by Rod Rodgers and a debut piece by guest choreographer Kayoko Sakoh.

Ongoing activities of the Rod Rodgers Dance Company have been made possible in part by assistance from the NY State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Office of Manhattan Borough President Virginia C. Fields, the Fund for the City of New York and by many friends.