Discover Dance | School Engagement in the Arts - 92NY, New York

Ephrat Asherie Dance performs for the 2024 Discover Dance Program — Ephrat Asherie Dance performs for the 2024 Discover Dance Program. Photo by Michael Priest Photography

Students in Grades 2 and 3 explore dance in hands-on classroom sessions led by 92NY Teaching Artists before attending live performances by some of New York City’s leading dancers and choreographers.

Through exploration of rich dance traditions in class and at live 92NY performances, students cultivate an appreciation for dance in culture and society and a love of movement in all its diverse forms.

Each class participating in the program receives:

18 in-person lessons with a 92NY Dance Teaching Artist
Attendance at two live performances in 92NY’s Kaufmann Concert Hall
Original teaching materials for partnering classrooms
One Professional Development workshop for partnering classroom teachers

92NY Performance Schedule:

Urban Bush Women
Tue, Dec 10, 11:30 am
Wed, Dec 11, 11:30 am
Thu, Dec 12, 11 am

The Limón Dance Company
Wed, Apr 2, 11:30 am
Thu, Apr 3, 10:15 am & 11:30 am

NYC Classrooms

NYC classrooms can register for our in-person program that includes eight sessions with a 92NY Teaching Artist at your school, plus attendance at one of the Gotta Swing! performances. Register by selecting “Hybrid Track Registration” in the registration form. A 92NY staff member will then contact you to confirm the date and time of the 92NY performance that your class(es) will attend.

Classrooms Outside NYC

Classrooms outside NYC can register for our digital-track program that includes eight online sessions with a 92NY Teaching Artist, plus access to the live-streamed Gotta Swing! performance on May 19 at 11:30 am ET. Register by selecting “Digital-Track Registration” in the registration form.

Payment Details

Standard pricing for Discover Dance is $2,900 per class. To apply for a subsidy, please provide a brief description of your school’s circumstances and the need for a partial subsidy via the registration form.

Urban Bush Women

Urban Bush Women (UBW) is a groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company and an agent for social change …

Urban Bush Women

Urban Bush Women (UBW) is a groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company and an agent for social change. Founded in 1984 by visionary choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, UBW is an engine and amplifier for the stories of Black Women+. Now directed by artistic leaders Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis, UBW combines radical performance, deep engagement, and ancestral knowledge from the African diaspora into a force that is urgent, forward-looking, and essential. UBW has defied expectations for 40 years. The very bodies of its founding members – Black women of various shapes and sizes – changed the landscape of who could be seen on stage as a dancer. The work placed the concerns of such women center stage. UBW embraces radical storytelling to activate societal transformation. Whether creating genre-defying work for the stage, guiding the development of Black Women+ choreographers and producers, organizing for justice through artmaking, UBW is an innovator, operating at the vanguard.

UBW’s core creative output is powered by arts and activism. The UBW Company creates, performs, and tours dance; the Summer Leadership Institute and the Choreographic Center Initiative provide essential training and mentorship to dancers and adjacent culture makers; and the BOLD workshops provide Builders, Organizers, and Leaders-through-Dance with skills for self-inquiry and movement. The creator of more than 40 pioneering works, UBW has appeared on major stages across the nation and around the world. In 2010, the U.S. State Department selected UBW as one of only three dance companies to launch its cultural exchange program. In 2021, UBW was hailed by philanthropist MacKenzie Scott as one of the Teams Empowering Voices the World Needs to Hear, and by the Ford Foundation as one of America’s Cultural Treasures. UBW is proud to serve a great mix of audiences, especially underserved Black communities, whose presence enriches the art form, the field, and the culture.

Photo Credit: Ian Douglas

The Limón Dance Company

The Limón Dance Company (LDC) has been at the vanguard of dance since its inception in 1946 …

The Limón Dance Company

José Limón Dance Foundation

The Limón Dance Company (LDC) has been at the vanguard of dance since its inception in 1946. The first dance group to tour internationally under the auspices of the State Department, and first modern dance company to perform at Lincoln Center in New York, it has performed twice at The White House. The José Limón Dance Foundation, with Company and Institute, is the recipient of a 2008 National Medal of the Arts. José Limón has a special place in American culture for a social awareness that transcended distinct groups to address how we all search for commonality. It is with this ethos that we continue to commission works by critically acclaimed and emerging international voices 50 years after Limón’s passing. His works continue to influence the evolution of the art form with their arresting visual clarity, theatricality, and rhythmic and musical life. www.limon.nyc

Founders

José Limón (Founder/Choreographer, 1908-1972) electrified the world with his dynamic masculine dancing and dramatic choreography. One of the 20th century’s most important and influential dance makers, he spent his career pioneering a new art form and fighting for its recognition. Born in Culiacán, Mexico in 1908, he moved to California in 1915, and in 1928 came to New York where he saw his first dance program. Limón enrolled in Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman’s dance school and performed in several of their works from 1930 to 1940. In 1946, with Doris Humphrey as Artistic Director, Limón formed his own company. Over the next 25 years, he established himself and his company as a major force of 20th century dance. Limón created a total of 74 works, including The Moor’s Pavane, Concerto Grosso, and Missa Brevis.

Doris Humphrey (Founder/Choreographer, 1895-1958) is recognized as a founder of American Modern Dance. She developed a distinctive movement approach based on the body’s relationship to gravity and the use of weight. The company she formed with Charles Weidman produced great dances as well as outstanding performers, José Limón among them. When physical disability ended her career as a dancer, she became the Artistic Director for José Limón and his company, creating new works for him and for The Juilliard.

Artistic Leadership

Dante Puleio (Artistic Director, He/Him), a widely respected former member of the Limón Dance Company for more than a decade, Puleio was appointed the sixth Artistic Director in the Company’s 77-year history, a position that originated with Doris Humphrey. After a diverse performing career with the Limón Dance Company, touring national and international musical theatre productions, television and film, he received his MFA from University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on contextualizing mid 20th century dance for the contemporary artist and audience. He is committed to implementing that research by celebrating José Limón's historical legacy and reimagining his intention and vision to reflect the rapidly shifting 21st century landscape.

Photo Credit: Kelly Puleio

To learn more about 92NY’s School Engagement in the Arts, contact:

Email

Celebrate where it all began! Make a gift to celebrate 92NY — where Giving Tuesday began. Help us continue to provide more of the programs you love to millions of people every year!

And now through December 31, 2024, your gift will be DOUBLED — going twice as far in supporting 92NY and our global community.

Select donation amount:

Please provide the following information:

Amount
Minimum donation amount is $1.00

$ 50 $ 150 $ 250 $ 500

$

Make this donation monthly and continue your support throughout the year more info »

Your donation will be automatically billed to your credit card each month. At the close of each year, you will receive a letter recording your 92Y gifts for tax purposes. You may change or cancel your payments at any time.

More ways to give ►