Accent Dance NYC Hosts 5th Anniversary Gala Next Month

 Accent Dance NYC has announced Let’s Dance! 2023: I AM/ WE ARE, a fundraising gala event on November 4th at Ballet Arts Center for Dance. Through an evening of both professional and youth performances, the organization will raise funds to expand upon educational and concert dance initiatives to empower youth, emerging artists, and audiences through access, equity, and the transformative power of the arts.

The evening invites Accent Dance NYC students to the stage alongside the company’s ensemble of multicultural and multi-disciplinary artists to celebrate dance’s unique ability to unify, teach, and inspire. At the intersection of individual identity and collective action, the evening will be centered around the company’s most recent commission, Narcissus, by emerging dancemaker William A. Ervin Jr.  A work of artistic introspection that combines elements of contemporary and street dance, its themes serve as the springboard for the company’s 2023/2024 educational programming of self-discovery, encouraging students to explore who they are and how their identities mirror- and enrich- the larger community of their peers and beyond. Alongside live performances of select excerpts from this new work, the evening also will feature the premiere of an evocative art film of Narcissus through the lens of celebrity portrait photographer Mark Mann.

In addition to performances by the Accent Dance NYC’s professional ensemble, students from PS 246, an elementary school in the Bronx and one of the company’s partner schools, will present an Afrobeat piece choreographed by teaching artist Falosha Martin. Following this performance, the audience will participate in learning "Jersalema," a vibrant South African dance style known for its infectious rhythm and uplifting character. Guests will also hear from two arts education advocates: Luis Torres, President of the New York City Elementary Schools Principals Association who has been championing throughout his career the right of all children to equitable educational access; and former Accent Dance student Reina Celis, whose exposure to the arts through an afterschool residency with the company has led her to pursue her stage dreams.  Most recently, she appeared off Broadway in Shakespeare in the Park's "The Tempest.” The evening concludes with a high-energy dance battle showcasing various street dance styles and a Latin dance workshop accessible to all ages and levels!

The primary goal of the gala is to raise funds for three essential pillars of Accent Dance’s programming: Dance Residencies that offer under-resourced K-12 schools culturally relevant dance styles as well as broader themes of culture, identity, climate change, and social justice and concluding with student performances and community projects; Educational Workshops that offer a one-hour assembly-style performances by Accent Dance NYC's multicultural ensemble, providing school-age children with a dynamic, uplifting, and culturally inclusive dance experience; and the professional presentation of new concert dance works on a New York City stage.

This year's gala continues the tradition of using dance as a powerful medium to promote activism and inspire positive change in the community.  The organization seeks to raise $80,000.