Continuing its work with the U.S. Department of State as a Cultural Ambassador, Company | E returned to the Urals for its second major concert and education program in a period of less than a year.

After the success of a five city program in November 2014, the Consulate General of the United States, Yekaterinburg invited the Company to continue its work in Russia at a time of significant tension between Washington and Moscow. Culture has always been a gateway to exchange and understanding, even during some of the harshest days of the Cold War in the Soviet era. Now, as the political winds shift, it has stepped to the fore again.

The Company's relationship to Russia began in 2002 when, on its first-ever international program, Company | E's precursor company, CityDance Ensemble participated in the opening of the 300th Anniversary Celebration of St. Petersburg. That relationship began anew during a major engagement in Moscow in 2010 and then again in 2014.

In 2015 Company | E was invited to be the only American participating in Russia's most prestigious International Dance Festival, the Na Grani Festival of Yekaterinburg. In partnership with the Consulate General the Company added four additional cities to the Tour, creating a two week program of Master Classes, choreography and Concerts which culminated in an SRO performance of Founding Member Robert J. Priore's Kennedy Center Commission, "SPEAK EASY."

"SPEAK EASY," Mr. Priore's celebration of love, set exactly the right tone for an American visit, a tone reminding the audience, the artists and all that we have far more we share than we often realize.

The "SPEAK EASY" tour was a highlight not just of the 205-2016 season, but of all the work of the Company's first five seasons.