Salon Performance Series for Social Change - March at Zoom

Mark DeGarmo Dance (MDD) continues its 13th annual Salon Performance Series for Social Change (SPS) 2023 featuring Global, U.S., New York City and State Emerging and Established Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Latinx, and Other; LGBTQIA+, Seniors, and Women Performing Artists on Thursday, March 2nd, 2023 at 7 PM ET on a Live Online Interactive Global Broadcast via Zoom*.  

MDD’s SPS is an innovative, audience-acclaimed sharing of works-in-progress with a facilitated audience response curated and facilitated by artist/scholar and Founder, Executive & Artistic Director of MDD Dr. Mark DeGarmo. MDD’s March 2nd salon features Teresa Fellion (New York City), Sloka Iyengar (New York City) Anabella Lenzu (Brooklyn), and Kiran Rajagopalan (New Jersey) on Thursday, March 2nd at 7 PM ET. 

Tickets by Donation

$25 is the suggested donation. Give and give as generously as you can. If $1U.S. is impossible for your economic situation, contact us at least 24 hours in advance: info@markdegarmodance.org with the reason for your request so you can join us. https://markdegarmodance.org

Payment Options: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mdds-virtual-salon-performance-series-for-social-change-march-2nd-2023-tickets-445147497147?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb 

Paypal: paypal.me/markdegarmodance

Venmo: Mark-DeGarmo-2

*Zoom Link will be sent to attendees by 5:00 PM ET the day of the performance from info@markdegarmodance.org. If a donation for tickets is made after that time, the MDD staff will send the link via email as soon as possible. Contact info@markdegarmodance to communicate regarding ticket status.

      About MDD’s Salon Performance Series for Social Change

Founded in 2010, MDD's Salon Performance Series for Social Change aims to support the professional learning and development of curated dance, movement, and other performing artists in New York City & State, USA, and globally. SPS provides a curated opportunity for the general public to view, engage with, and demystify the creation of original dance and movement works-in-progress of selected emerging and established artists. The program began in 2010 when choreographer and director Mark DeGarmo sought innovative ways to create via ongoing public sharings his work-in-development, the 60-minute Las Fridas: A Movement Installation and Offering, invited to the Mexico City International Contemporary Dance Festival in August 2023. His own successes using a facilitated audience response process led him to share his process with others. 

February 2, 2023 audience responses included: “I’m just sending a heartfelt thank-you for tonight’s Salon! What remarkable, inspiring artists! I’m still processing it all, especially  “Ofrenda”… (You) will recognise this very UK expression, “gob-smacked”…  And the warm, open, nurturing “energy” you infuse it all with is very special.  I’m sure it is much appreciated by all. Personally it turned my somewhat weighted, over-busy day into a light-filled, uplifted one!! Muchas Gracias!”

                                              About MDD’s SPS Alumni Evening–March 2, 2023

Teresa Fellion (she/they), New York City-based, founded BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance in 2011, after choreographing independently since 2004. Fellion’s work has been positively reviewed by several publications, performed in a diverse range of proscenium and site-specific venues, and has received a diverse range of grants. Teresa completed a Dance MFA from Sarah Lawrence under Scholarship, a Certificate from the Ailey School on scholarship, and a BA in French & English Literature with a dance minor from NYU as a Merit Scholar. She received Choreographic Fellowships from SummerStages Dance Festival, ICA Boston, and an American Dance Guild Fellowship for Jacob’s Pillow’s Choreographers’ Lab.

Sloka Iyengar (she/her) is a New York City-based neuroscientist and Bharatanatyam dancer passionate about using the arts and the sciences for public impact. She has created works to explore the many points of convergence between dance and neuroscience, and is also creating the foundation for using Bharatanatyam in creative aging.”Dancing as a scientist has made me realize how fortunate I am to experience both of these two very different, yet connected disciplines – science and art. Whereas science is the theoretical study of reality, dance to me is the practical study of reality. Together, science and dance help me to appreciate more fully the world we live in and feed into my interest in the nature of reality.”  

Originally from Argentina, Anabella Lenzu (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based dancer, choreographer, writer, and teacher with over 30 years of experience working in Argentina, Chile, Italy, and the U.S. She has produced and directed several award-winning short dance films and screened her work in over 200 festivals both nationally and internationally. Lenzu directs her own company, Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama (ALDD), which since 2006 has presented 400 performances, created 15 choreographic works and performed at 100 venues, presenting thought provoking and historically conscious dance-theater in New York City. New York State Dance Education Association awarded Lenzu the 2022 Innovative Dance Educator Award. 

Kiran Rajagopalan (he/him) is an award-winning dancer, choreographer, writer, and educator based in New Jersey. Trained extensively in Bharatanatyam (Indian classical dance) for over 25 years, Kiran has performed in India, Indonesia, Germany, Spain, France, and the U.S. He is the co-founder and artistic director of Daya Arts, which aims to bridge diasporic communities through original, high-quality artistic productions. Daya Arts actively participates in initiatives that engage with other Communities of Color. Rajagopalan graduated with a BA (magna cum laude) in Behavioral Neuroscience and Spanish from Boston University, an MA (honors) in Bharatanatyam from University of Madras, and an MA in Performance Studies from NYU.

About Mark DeGarmo Dance

Mark DeGarmo Dance, founded in 1987 and celebrating its 35th Anniversary in 2022-23, is a leading New York City nonprofit dance organization located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side at NYC-owned The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center (The Clemente). MDD’s 13 programs support its tri-part mission integrating education, performance, and intercultural community-building. MDD educates under-resourced and marginalized New York City Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, Latinx, and Other communities and children; creates, performs and disseminates original artistic and scholarly work; and builds intercultural community through dance arts. In 2022, MDD collaboratively taught over 1,000 NYC under-resourced and disenfranchised elementary public school students with over 100 school teachers and administrators across Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens in its evidence-based Partnerships in Literacy through Dance & Creativity© program with the support of federal pandemic relief funds. The program was deemed “a national model” by the National Endowment for the Arts. President Barack Obama commended DeGarmo and MDD for “your service to your community and the nation.”

                                 About SPS Curator & Facilitator Mark DeGarmo (he/him)

Mark B. DeGarmo, Ph.D., Union Institute & University, B.F.A./Dance, The Juilliard School is a dancer/performer, choreographer, writer, researcher, learning theorist and Mark DeGarmo Dance’s Founder, Executive & Artistic Director. His transdisciplinary doctoral research grounds MDD’s evidence-based Partnerships in Literacy through Dance & Creativity© program that during the school day annually serves over 1,000 under-resourced and marginalized NYC public elementary school students and 100 teachers. Awards, honors, & citations include NYC press: “a gladiator in various arenas”; educational theorist & social activist Dr. Maxine Greene: “a polymath”; and Dr. Jose Hilario Cedillos: “a visionary.” Dr. DeGarmo believes in the power of dance arts to transform human consciousness.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature and 

the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.