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MISSION & HISTORY
BUILDING COMMUNITIES, SUSTAINING ARTISTS

Dancing in the Streets, based in the South Bronx, develops movement-based projects through long term initiatives, integrating rigorous inquiry, artistic exploration, deep community engagement, and the nurturing of urban artists.

 

Our three main areas of activity:

  • Resident Artists - based in communities, to nurture individual creativity, and build bridges across generations, communities, and cultures.

  • The Incubator - supporting and developing new generations of artists in dance and social practice.

  • It's Showtime NYC! - nurturing emerging urban dance artists, and advocating the value, and importance of Hip Hop culture in NYC, nationally and internationally.

It's Showtime NYC! dancers, 2016; photo: Simon Dove

Arthur Avilés in Paseo, 2012; Photo: Alan Watson

HISTORY

Founded in 1984 by Elise Bernhardt, Dancing in the Streets has produced and presented over 550 free public performances by over 300 contemporary artists, including site-specific productions at spectacular urban sites by Meredith Monk, Ann Carlson, Douglas Dunn, Eiko & Koma, Joanna Haigood, Steve Koplowitz, Tere O’Connor, Elizabeth Streb, Reggie Wilson, and Yasuko Yakoshi.

 

In its early years, Dancing in the Streets fostered site-specific work as a public art form across New York City, the U.S. and internationally.  Since 2001, Dancing in the Streets has been an urban pioneer, producing dance performances in unknown sites throughout the NYC metropolitan area, including the massive Port Authority Grain Terminal in Red Hook, the Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Fort Jay on Governor’s Island, Hangar B at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field, and in the streets of the South Bronx.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

  • The Bronx Times named Aviva Davidson, former Executive & Artistic Director of Dancing in the Streets, one of the 25 Most Influential Women of the Bronx 2014

  • Bessie Award to choreographer Joanna Haigood for Paseo “for an outstanding production of work stretching the boundaries of traditional form.”

  • Arts and Business Council Encore Award

  • Municipal Arts Society Certificate of Merit

  • The Doris C. Freedman Award from the City of New York for “greatly enriching the public environment.”

  • It's Showtime NYC! was the first resident street-dance company of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sarah Calderon (Executive Director, Casita Maria), Joanna Haigood (Choreographer, Paseo), and Aviva Davidson (Executive & Artistic Director, Dancing in the Streets) accepting a

Bessie Award for Paseo; Photo: Paul Benney

Alethea Pace, Site-Specific Incubator with Joanna Haigood, 2015; Photo: Zach Scheinfeld

PRESENTING PARTNERS

Abrons Art Center, American Museum of Natural History, Apollo Theater, Asia Society, Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance*, Bronx Pro Group*, Brooklyn Borough President, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education*, The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, CityParks Dance, City Parks Foundation’s Hook Productions, Dance Theater Etc., FIAF, 52 People for Progress*, Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, Good Shepherd/The Beacon, HarlemStage, Japan Society, The Kitchen, Langston Hughes Community Library & Cultural Center / Queens Library, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Mark Morris Dance Group, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, The New York Public Library, Openhousenewyork, Partnerships for Parks, Red Hook Community Justice Center, Red Hook Initiative, SoBRO*, The Shed, Summerstage, Wave Hill*, Westchester Square BID*, World Financial Center Arts & Events

*Bronx Organizations

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