Editor’s note: This press release was provided by Accent Dance NYC.

NEW YORK, Tuesday, October 19, 2021 – 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.

PERFORMANCE AND VENUE INFORMATION

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.

Light refreshments will be served.

Proof of completed COVID-19 vaccination status and wearing a face mask will be required to attend this event.

REPERTORY NOTES 

Tanguera (2019)

Choreographer: Dardo Galletto

Music Credit: Mariano Mores

Performed by:  Agostina Mocibob and Rodolfo Santamarina

Tanguera Integrates traditional and progressive elements in an energetic and virtuoso display of the tango.

Galletto Y Guzman (2019)

Choreographers:  Dardo Galletto and Alonso Guzman

Music Credit: Adriana Varela

Performed by:  Dardo Galletto and Alonso Guzman

In this tango, two men navigate the seamless change between leader and follower, with every step affecting the next, regardless of gender role.

Passages (2020)

World Premiere

Choreographer:  Lucia Jackson

Music Credit: Anna RF, Erik Satie, James Newton Howard, Joaquín Rodrigo, Rosalía

Performed by:  Elisa Toro Franky, Lucia Jackson, Agostina Mocibob, Rodolfo Santamarina and Leonel Linares

Choreographed by Accent Dance NYC artist Lucia Jackson, Passages takes a journey through historical periods and cultures while celebrating our shared humanity.

Don Quixote

Choreographer:  Marius Petipa

Music Credit:  Ludwig Minkus

Performed by:  Elisa Toro Franky and Dannys Gonzalez

A classical ballet pas de deux from the full-length ballet, Don Quixote, based upon the novel by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.

Bolero (2021)

Choreographer:  Shoko Tamai

Music:  Maurice Ravel

Performed by:  Shoko Tamai

Premiered at Boricua College in New York City this summer, and created as part of an ongoing joint collaboration between Accent Dance NYC and Ninja Ballet, dancer/choreographer Shoko Tamai showcases the steely precision of martial arts alongside of the grace and fluidity of classical ballet.

El Regalo de los Alebrijes (The Gift of the Alebrijes) 

Choreographer: David Fernandez

Music Credit: Jesus Echevvaria, Alejandro Giacoman, Felipe Villanueva

Originally Performed by:  Noura Deane, Elisa Toro Franky, Erin Gallagher, Leonel Linares, Agostina Mocibob, Rodolfo Santamarina, Heather Wanderer, Julian Wanderer

Live Excerpt Performed by:  Erin Gallagher as the Fox and Rodolfo Santamarina as the Horse

World Premiere:  September 17, 2021, Teatro LATEA, New York, New York

El Regalo de los Alebrijes is a playful narrative of a boy finding wonder and joy through the magic of Mexican folk art amidst a pandemic and social isolation. For this gala performance, Accent Dance NYC presents live excerpts of the mythical Fox and Horse creatures, followed by the full-length filmed version, created in collaboration with New York Times videographer Angelo Vasta. The film is part of Project Access, Accent Dance NYC’s ongoing hybrid, educational series for school-age children, which has already reached thousands of students in New York City and lower Westchester.

We are One (Ole Ole)

Choreography:  Accent Dance NYC team

Music Credit:  Pitbull

Performed by:  Accent Dance NYC team

The evening will close with this uplifting piece of the Accent Dance NYC cast will invite audience members to join the performers in a dance and music sequence, as a reminder that heritage, experiences, and identities matter.