Richard Graber hails from Cleveland, Ohio, and is a son of Hungarian immigrants who came to America in 1956. Richard was always interested in the art of dance and began learning Hungarian ethnic dances at the age of 14 and later studied modern dance and classical ballet in Cleveland with Dana Snyder.

Richard graduated from Ohio State University with a major in Dance Performance and later performed as principal dancer with the Zivili Kolo Ensemble in Columbus, Ohio.

Richard founded Csárdás Dance Company in 1994 and was awarded a dance research and study grant from the Ohio Arts Council to study ethnic dance in Budapest and Romania. Richard has also conducted modern and ethnic dance classes at The Ohio State University-Creative Activities Program, Ohio University, Theater West Virginia, University of Akron, Cleveland State University and Cuyahoga Community College, where he served as faculty. He has also worked as guest choreographer for the University of Akron Dance Company as well as for Lyric Opera Cleveland. Richard served as Vice-president of the Board of Directors for the Medina County Performing Arts Foundation (MCPAF) and chaired the talent committee for the presenting organization.

In 2005, Graber was hired as a Grants Specialist with AIDS Foundation Houston, Inc. and later as Communications and Third Party Events Coordinator for the foundation. Richard has consulted with the Pearland High School color guard program and has also served on review panels for the Houston Arts Alliance. He has taught Hungarian dance in the Houston and Galveston dance community and is a board member of the Hungarian American Cultural Association of Houston.

Most recently, Richard has joined the Grants & Services staff of the Houston Arts Alliance as Special Project Manager to assist with its numerous management programs and projects including Leveraging Investment in Creativity (LINC), the data base project, the Business Volunteers for the Arts assessment survey and the National Arts Marketing Project.

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