dance arts center is a maximalist, genre-bending music and performance project by Los Angeles-based artist Nicolette Norgaard. Driven by dance music and rooted in storytelling, DAC is where club meets theater, and the performer’s soul meets the producer’s toolkit.

Her debut release, dance arts center presents, is a concept mixtape styled like a fictional Broadway cast recording, complete with an overture and entr’acte. It explores how we perform within relationships, costume ourselves emotionally, shape-shift for love, and how the show sometimes doesn’t end even when the curtain falls. Sonically, it lives in a world of synth-heavy, groove-driven dance music tinged with indie pop sensibilities and thoughtful songwriting. Each song is a story, and each beat carries something heavier than it lets on.

But DAC isn’t just recorded music; it’s an evolving live performance experience. Norgaard brings the project to the stage with the precision of a trained performer and the freedom of someone who came-of-age on the dance floor. The live show is theatrical, narrative-driven, playful and self-aware. She calls it “deconstructed theater”, using Fosse-inspired choreography, personas, metafiction, and skits to create something that pushes the boundaries of what music and theater are “supposed” to be.

1. overture
2. joey knows
3. everyone was talking about you last night
4. phone games
5. entr'acte
6. you want to
7. good listener
8. video