Interview: Mary Rose Lloyd Talks New Victory Dance 10th Anniversary Season

New Victory Dance is celebrating its 10th anniversary season of bringing the artistry of dance to young audiences. Featuring a diverse lineup of incredible New York City-based companies, New Victory dance features three programs over the summer, each including free performances for summer schools and camps, as well as one public performance with tickets available for purchase for $13. 

New Victory Dance aims to expand New York City children's knowledge, and allow them to experience, celebrate, and be inspired by dance through its accessible programming.

This year's programming will feature performances by Ephrat Asherie Dance, Barkha Dance Company, Sun Kim Dance Theatre, and more!  

BroadwayWorld spoke with Mary Rose Lloyd, Artistic Director of New 42 about what goes into bringing New Victory Dance to life. 

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How has it felt to keep New Victory Dance programming going over the last few years?

We began in the summer of 2014, so we’re in our 10th series, and it feels really good. When the pandemic hit, when everything happened, we were working very hard to make sure that our programs were as accessible as possible given that we couldn’t be in person together. So, we did a lot of pivoting in the organization, not just with our New Victory Dance program, but with our seasons as well, we made a lot of video that we could share with teachers and parents.

Last summer we were back in the New Victory, but it was a slow return. And I think audiences are back. Not for everyone, and not in every case, but there is a real appetite for this dance series that we do. It’s all New York City-based artists, so we’re celebrating our own, it’s very localized. But it’s also a variety of dance art forms that are broken up with some conversation, not pedantic, but just good conversation around dance, enticing audiences, especially young people, to understand that there are different kinds of dance that’s defined differently in all kinds of ways. And to get them moving, and to get them excited about it, mystified a little, if you will, and enjoy it.

For this summer, being back in full swing with trying to get around 4000 kids, it feels great. It’s a program that I’m very proud of. We present some dance during our regular season, but we found that there are a lot of other venues in New York City that are dedicated to presenting dance, and we wanted to try something different. To be available for the kids who are in the city for summer camps and summer schools - that’s who comes to our daytime performances. But also, we do one public performance per program, and the followers of the companies, choreographers, and artists who are on stage also bring their folks into the mix. And so, it’s a really fun audience experience, both the kids during the day, and at night when you’ve got all of the fans of the different dance companies together, plus our New Victory members. There’s something really magic about it. So, I am glad to be back in person.

What do you look for when putting a season together? How does that process go, especially for a season as important as a 10th anniversary season?

It's the narrowing down of it just being in the New York City area, the localness of it, and also the wanting to make a mixed program, so on one program kids could see flamenco dance, street dance, and then modern dance, or ballet. There’s everything. If, for example, a camp wanted to come every week and see every program, we have three programs, they could, and they would have an entirely different experience each week. There might be tap one week, or Chinese folkloric dance, or northern Indian dance, Parsons is going to be coming this year.

It’s a mix of form, but also of the local choreographers people may know. There are some names in there, and there are some more up and coming companies. I really love the mix of that, because a lot of these companies, although they’re all based here, they don’t necessarily know each other. The choreographers haven’t necessarily worked together, or been in the same space together. So, it’s really fun. At the end of the program we bring them all out to do a quick talkback with the kids so they can talk a little bit more about their different art forms and how they came to be dancers, and what the life of a dancer is like.

As meaningful as it is for the young people in the audience, I really find that it’s very touching, very moving for the choreographers who, maybe, probably, most of these pieces are done for all-age audiences. They weren’t done specifically for a young audience. They’re just accessible, and they work for a young audience. So, to have the choreographers see that their work can be enjoyed, and taken in, and experienced by young people, I think motivates them to seek out more family matinees when they’re being presented around the world, and to not be shy about doing work for a young audience. Not all of them are, but some aren’t used to it. And I think, for me, it’s continuing to level up that artistry, and what the audience sees as viable paths for work, and for the kids to see the different kinds of dance that they can be introduced to in one season.

Access to dance programs and performances are so important. How does it feel knowing that you are exposing so many young people to this art form?

It’s very gratifying for all of us. The New Victory, it’s part of our mission, our reason to be is to make all arts accessible from the youngest ages upward. And we’re true to what we say. Every program that we do has a public engagement component around it. So, for example, pre and post-show experiences in the lobby so the audiences can go a little bit deeper if they like. Our teaching artists are going to the camps, we’re doing pre and post-show workshops with the kids before they come. I’m really proud of that, I’m proud of how the whole organization has embraced presenting dance for young people. Yes, it’s absolutely coming to the theater and seeing live dance, no question, but there is also so much more packed in there with all of the engagement activities that our education department does that makes it unique and special and not like any other program I’ve ever seen.

What are you most excited about with this 10th anniversary season?

Let’s say we’ve averaged 4000 kids per season, and we’re in our 10th anniversary, that’s 40,000 kids over a 10 year period that have been ignited by dance. And hopefully some of them understand that they maybe could be dancers or choreographers, they could be arts administrators, or a designer, we talk about the lighting design as well as the sound in the different pieces. It’s being able to pull the curtain back on the experience of being on stage, and experiencing live performing arts that keeps us the most juiced, I would say.

Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share?

I would just say we’re all excited about the 10 year anniversary and looking forward to the next few years of what the New Victory Dance series can be. And at some point, maybe, probably, we’re going to run out of New York City dance companies, and so it would be fun to start re-programming them with different pairings. I want the local dance community to know the New Victory can be a home for them, especially in the summer. And I hope that if they didn’t know about New Victory Dance that this article will enlighten them and they will come, or they will get in touch with me and let me know who they are so that they’re on our radar!

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Full Schedule

Program B: July 17 - 21

Noche Flamenca

Alegrías                                         

1 dancer     

Percussive footwork, clapping, and intricate hand, arm and body movements are on display in this whimsical and joyful solo flamenco piece.

Heidi Latsky Dance

After These Messages

5 dancers                       

Disabled and non-disabled artists from this physically integrated company move beyond barriers, boundaries and belief to celebrate their differences with striking poses and sweeping motions that showcase each dancer’s individuality.

There will be an amputee and a wheelchair user dancer who will need access

Sun Kim Dance Theater

Lost & Found  *                                          

5 dancers                   

Have you ever felt lost in your thoughts, as if on an island alone, trying to find a way back? Guided by spoken word and Popping-based moves, this captivating piece for five dancers takes you on a journey of self-discovery to find out what it truly means to be found.

Program C: July 24  - 28

Luke Hickey

A Little Old, A Little New       

3 dancers/3 musicians              

This high-energy percussive revue accentuates the powerful connection between tap dancers and jazz musicians in syncopated conversation. A delicious smorgasbord of styles, rhythms, steps and songs—old and new—explodes in this love letter to tap dance’s jazz roots. 

Monica Bill Barnes

The Running Show !                   

3 dancers                                  

Full of rigorous athletic movement, The Running Show is a live documentary about the life of a dancer.  Robbie Saenz de Viteri and Monica Bill Barnes create a work that combines movement and language in surprising ways inviting the audience to see the dancer as a new kind of sports hero.

Nai-Ni Chen

Red Firecracker**                       

7 dancers                            

Created especially for family audiences, “Festival” is the explosive finale of the Company’s flagship production Red Firecrackers. The choreographer uses dazzling props, colorful costumes, mesmerizing music, fantastic acrobatics and lively traditional dance to showcase the spectacle of the Lunar New Year celebration.

Program D: July  31 - August 4

Barkha Dance Company         

Vignettes of Kathak     

1 dancer/2 musicans/1 singer

This evocative dance piece embraces several elements of Indian musical expression, such as Hindustani classical notes, live singing and recitation of rhythmic compositions, rounded off with melodic use of syllables from the tabla and sitar.

Ballet Hispánico presents BHdos

Guajira      8 dancers   

This ballet with a Latin beat is inspired by choreographer Pedro Ruiz’s memories of his childhood in the Cuban countryside, reflecting both the beauty and the struggle of peasant life, set to a blend of Afro-Cuban and flamenco music  

Parsons Dance            

Balance of Power                       

2 dancers                               

Music and motion interplay in this captivating duet, where intricate movements are coordinated to each percussive beat in an impressive showcase of strength and control.