Accent Dance NYC Brings Multicultural Evening Of Dance To Pelham For Annual Gala

Accent Dance NYC, a non-profit dance and performance initiative that champions arts education in schools and communities in New York City, Westchester and beyond, presents the second annual Let's Dance!: The 2021 Accent Dance NYC Benefit and Performance at the Picture House in Pelham, New York on November 6th. Funds raised in connection with the event will allow the organization to continue its mission of expanding access to multicultural and inclusive dance education, including both in-school and novel hybrid educational programming. The program features a versatile program of ballet, contemporary dance, martial-arts-based dance, queer and traditional tango, audience participation, and a guest performance by Luciana Paris, soloist with American Ballet Theatre.

Led by a team of multicultural and multi-disciplinary teaching and professional performance artists from the United States, Cuba, Spain, Japan, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Argentina, Haiti and beyond, Accent Dance NYC has developed a rich and curated dance education curriculum for students as well as multicultural educational performances, designed to enhance students' critical thinking, global perspective, creativity, and social-emotional well-being. By cleverly combining elements of ballet, contemporary dance, hip hop, salsa, jazz, martial-arts-based dance, African dance, and tango, the organization's programming connects each dance style to themes of history, literacy, geography, self-discipline, creativity, local pride, and mutual respect. While most local students were displaced from classrooms during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization pivoted to digital programming, and has served more than 4,000 school-aged children to date. Their recent educational initiative, Project Access, offered students a virtual tour of New York City through dance, interactive movement lessons, and question-and-answer sessions with the artists, reaching students in classrooms and homes throughout New York City and Westchester notwithstanding the significant challenges posed by COVID-19.

Accent Dance NYC returned to live, indoor performances last month to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a full-length evening program, Regalo Hispanico, at Teatro Latea on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Footage from the evening, including a world premiere by Mexican choreographer David Fernandez will be curated to expand the lesson plans of Project Access, bringing additional cultural elements of language, folk art, and community into both in-school and remote classrooms throughout the present school year.

"Many of the communities we serve were impacted not only physically and financially by COVID-19, but also culturally," notes Andrea Ziegelman, founder, and artistic director of Accent Dance NYC. "Providing students with the social-emotional and creative outlet of arts education has become critical, and we are working to raise funds so that we can reach and inspire more children in more places," she continues.

Let's Dance: The 2021 Accent Dance NYC Benefit and Performance will take place on Saturday, November 6 at 7:30 p.m. at The Pelham Picture House located at 175 Wolfs Lane in Pelham, New York.

Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-dance-accent-dance-nycs-annual-gala-fundraiser-tickets-182916346717.

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