Mark DeGarmo Dance Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Mark DeGarmo Dance (MDD) is a not-for-profit charity founded in 1987 with a three-part mission: Education, Performance and Intercultural Community. For 30 years, MDD has provided interdisciplinary dance arts education programs to disenfranchised, economically challenged kids, families, and schools across New York City's five boroughs. With the vision to Enliven Bodies, Shift Perspectives and Change Lives, we serve over 20,000 individuals across all programs and up to 1,500 PreK-5 students and 200 teachers in eight Title 1 public schools during the school day in the Manhattan--East Village, Lower East Side, Washington Heights and Brooklyn--Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Williamsburg. We have funded 99% of the program costs for our high-need schools and high-risk multicultural elementary students with the NYC Department of Education contributing 1% and sustained partnerships for up to 15 years.

In 2016, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama commended the organization's commitment to our communities and the nation. The National Endowment for the Arts has repeatedly called our educational program "a national model." In 2017, Johns Hopkins University School of Education's scientific research concluded that our program is an "evidence-based educational intervention that shows a significant effect on student outcomes" with our students' scores rising "more than 11 points from the pre-program to the post-program analysis of their state reading tests." This study "represents the first rigorous evaluation of an approach supported by cognitive neuroscience lab research in actual schools over a significant period of time." Our program is grounded in Dr. Mark DeGarmo's doctoral research studying the relationship between movement improvisation and embodied learning.

A three-year study with high-need economically distressed Lower East Side students in grades one to three, conducted by a New York University Sociology professor, showed that our interdisciplinary dance and literacy education translated into increased math scores, strengthened quality and quantity of dance journal writing and improved classroom behavior - as compared to students from the control group without the benefits of MDD's program. With nearly 100% of our kids and their families living under the federal poverty line, as indicated by participation in free and reduced meal programs, our program levels the playing field for our students' academic achievements and lifelong learning.

Mark DeGarmo, Ph.D., Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of MDD, has had a distinguished international career as a choreographer, performer, and teacher. Over the past three decades, DeGarmo, a Juilliard School Dance Division B.F.A. graduate and Ph.D. from Union Institute & University, has promoted cultural diplomacy and exchange by producing over 100 dances and 28 international tours in 12 countries across Latin America, Europe and Russia. He has received numerous awards for his accomplishments across fields of education, performance, and intercultural community, including: 2017 American Web Design Award, 2015 Martha Hill Dance Fund Mid-Career Award, 2015 Sophie Gerson Healthy Youth Foundation Recognition, Millennium Artists Program supported by The White House and National Endowment for the Arts, USA State Department's American Cultural Specialist Award to Ecuador, and Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship to Peru. DeGarmo's choreography, performance, and costumes were featured in photographs both in 2015 and 2012 in Moscow's A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum of Russia costume exhibitions that also toured the USA. His transcultural transdisciplinary boundary-breaking performance, "Las Fridas: A Movement Installation and Offering," inspired by Frida Kahlo's life and work, previewed in New York City with five performances in December 2015 and seven performances in April 2016, both of which were acclaimed by New York press from StageBuddy.com, BroadwayWorld.com, The Villager, and Bedford + Bowery. Because of his original creative work and passion for intercultural community-building DeGarmo was led to being the face of the June 2017 cover feature article of national magazine DanceTeacher and was recognized as a leader in both dance and dance education. To read the article: http://www.dance-teacher.com/mark-degarmo-dance-program-2434687460.html.

2017 marks MDD's 30th Anniversary as an educational and cultural charity. On Friday, November 17, 2017, at University Settlement on the Lower East Side, MDD will host its largest annual event, Dance for Dance, which celebrates the educational work of the organization and the disenfranchised, multicultural communities with whom it works. Launched ten years ago, Dance for Dance is a fundraising event that raises critical awareness and financial support for the company's educational programs. It is a lively and inclusive dance party that brings together our supporters, guests, school teachers, teaching artists, and the parents of participating children to praise and finance our transformative dance education programs. Included in the program are hors d'oeuvres, drinks, a performance by our students, a dance lesson from one of our teaching artists and a silent auction featuring gift certificates, dinners, vacations, and more.

At Dance for Dance, MDD honors educational legends and luminaries with the "Educational Visionary" Lifetime Achievement Award. Inaugurated in 2013, the award is presented to "visionaries who have promoted innovation in education through the arts." Recipients have included dance writer Deborah Jowitt (2016), ballet legends and founders of The Briansky Ballet Center Oleg Briansky and Mireille Brianne (2015), actress, writer, director, and co-founder of The Living Theatre Judith Malina (2014), and educational theorist and social activist Maxine Greene (2013). All have contributed in diverse ways to the USA's arts and culture. This year, MDD will honor international dance and dance education artist, writer, and leader Patricia Aulestia for her unique global contributions to the fields of dance and dance education worldwide and across Latin America and the Americas.

Born in Quito, Ecuador and a Mexican citizen today, Ms. Aulestia began her dance studies in Chile, Argentina and the United States. She received a scholarship in New York to attend the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the School of American Ballet. She also studied in New York at The Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo and the American Ballet Center.

An innovator at heart, Ms. Aulestia founded and directed the National Dance Research, Documentation and Information Center (CENIDI Danza) "José Limón" in Mexico City, became the Director of the National Dance Company, and the National Coordinator of Dance for the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico. She has been principal dancer in the National Ballet of Chile, in the Modern Art Ballet of Santiago de Chile (today's?Ballet de Santiago) as well as at Ballet Clásico 70 of ?Mexico. She is also the founder and director of the National Ballet of Ecuador (Ballet Nacional Ecuatoriano). Aligned with her multi-dimensional nature, she has worked as dance teacher, researcher and choreographer, creating "Daquilema", "Niño Agua" and the "Chola María", to name a few choreographic works.

Among the many prestigious dance awards with which she has been recognized are the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Ministry of Education of Ecuador, the Diploma and Medal for Artistic Merit in Dance by the Brazilian Council of Dance, A Life in Theatre Award from the Mexican Center of the International Theatre Institute/UNESCO, the "Xochipili" Prize from the New Dance Festival, A Life in Dance honor from the INBA (Mexico's National Institute of Fine Arts), an Award for Artistic Excellence from Ecuador-USA and an award for the Best CIAD (Conferación Interamericana de la Danza) Distinctness, in Buenos Aires.

Dr. DeGarmo met Ms. Aulestia in 1985 when she facilitated his professional teaching across Mexico in a six-week national project. MDD is proud to honor her as our 30th Anniversary Dance for Dance 2017's "Educational Visionary" Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.