Joseph Nontanovan

Born and raised in the DC metro area, Joseph Nontanovan is currently the Artistic Director of Culture Shock, D.C. dance troupe; a non-profit youth outreach organization and professional dance company. Under Joseph’s direction, Culture Shock won the 2006 DC Metro Dance Award for Best Emerging Performer or Group.  Together they have organized the biggest hip-hop community event in the nation’s capital, the “East Coast Dance Competition”, having recently completed its fourth year of production.

Joseph has performed all over the United States and overseas, opened for Omarion and Marques Houston, and was a featured dancer in the Touchstone Pictures film, "Step Up".  He has presented work at the historic Lincoln Theater as well as the Kennedy Center, taught workshops in Switzerland and Croatia, and has had the pleasure of working with such choreographers as Kelly Mayfield, Aysha Upchurch, Toni Czar, Luam, Jamal Sims, and Meisha Bosma.

Last winter Joseph ran the 2006 Honolulu Marathon, through which he proudly raised funds towards the local Whitman-Walker AIDS Clinic.