Cleo Mack is an award-winning choreographer, educator, and costume designer whose work has been described as “a collision of quirky sophistication and unmeasured recklessness.” She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Wilson College and a BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.

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Her choreography has been commissioned by the Outlet Dance Project at Grounds for Sculpture, 10 Hairy Legs, Perpich School of the Arts, and Quad City Ballet. She has enjoyed generous support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission, and has received space grants from The Field, Dance Theater Workshop (DTW), and Lincoln Center. Her work has been presented widely, with performances at Joyce Soho, DTW’s Fresh Tracks, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., WAX, P.S.1 MoMA, the Hungarian American Dance Festival, and NJPAC’s Jersey Moves.

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Cleo is a co-founder/owner of Rock Dance Center, a three-pillar organization that integrates education, performance, and outreach. Its training arm, Washington Rock Dance (WRD), founded in 2015, provides developmentally appropriate instruction for dancers from beginners to pre-professionals. Its professional company, Rock Dance Collective (RDCo), established in 2016, is a non-profit where Cleo serves as both Artistic Director and performer. The company’s creative process is deeply collaborative, producing immersive, interdisciplinary works that merge movement, visual art, sound, and installation to explore societal and environmental themes. RDCo has been commissioned by organizations including DanceNOW SteelStacks and Joe’s Pub, Rutgers Summer Stage, CoLab Arts, and ArtCake, and has presented numerous original works in both traditional and site-specific settings. In 2025, Rock Dance Center launched Rock Outreach, a new initiative that uses movement as a catalyst to foster connection and build community through partnerships with local organizations and grant-supported projects.

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Cleo’s artistry has been recognized nationally and regionally. She was selected by Dance Magazine as one of its celebrated “25 to Watch” and in 2023 received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, honoring her high artistic merit. Equally committed to teaching and mentorship, Cleo is the Director of Dance at the Middlesex County Magnet School of Performing Arts. She has served as a part-time lecturer at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts and as a teaching artist for the American Repertory Ballet Institute, DeSales University, Muhlenberg University, and the University of Iowa. In 2017, she was awarded the Hollins University Teaching Award. In 2025 Cleo was honored to be the key presenter at the Minnesota Dance Summit.  She was also a member of the writing team for the New Jersey State Arts Standards. Cleo currently serves as Associate Artistic Director of the Montclair Dance Festival, where she helps shape programming and foster community engagement through dance. She has served on the boards of Dance New Jersey and CoLab Arts.

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In addition to her choreography and leadership roles, Cleo is also a professional costume designer whose work has supported the visions of a wide range of choreographers, including Alexandra Beller, Pam Tanowitz, Meghan Frederick, Chein-Ying Wang, Randy James, Stephanie Batten Bland, Paul O’Campo, and Julia Ritter.