Dance for Dance for Social Change is MDD’s community celebration! Our annual event raises critical awareness and funds needed to support our mission and programs. 

Tickets, Donations, and Sponsorships can be found here.

The Silent Auction 2024 is closed as of May 12. See past bids here.

Donations by Check: Note that our building in NYC is under construction and our mailbox is inaccessible at this time. Mail checks to P.O. Box 218, Ancram, NY 12502-0218.

We use dance to engage and empower NYC students through performance and education. For over a decade, MDD has produced the annual event with so much volunteer and in-kind support that direct costs pre-COVID were less than 5% of gross revenue with 95% going to programs. In COVID and with a virtual event, 100% of funds supported our programs

Dance for Dance for Social Change 2024 was our 37th Anniversary Celebration and Dance Party of the Year! We featured our 37-year commitment to bring impactful evidence-based dance education to disenfranchised and under-resourced communities and public schools across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. We honored legendary dancers, choreographers and teachers Phyllis Lamhut and Douglas Dunn with our “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Awards. The evening included dancing to DJ Steve, an online silent auction, a live shout out auction, special guests, performances, and a dance lesson. Dance for Dance for Social Change 37th Anniversary was held at St. Mary’s Church on the Lower East Side on May 9th, 2024, 6:30-9:00 PM.

  • Fun! Diversity! and Inclusivity! are traditional hallmarks of our event for more than 10 years. 
  • Ours is a family-style party where everyone is welcome and encouraged to join us!

Disclaimer for 2024 attendees:

*Photographs and/or video will be taken during the dance party.
By taking part in this event you grant the event organizers full rights to use the images resulting from the photography/video filming, and any reproductions or adaptations of the images for fundraising, publicity or other purposes to help achieve the group’s aims. This might include (but is not limited to), the right to use them in their printed and online publicity, social media, press releases and funding applications. 

2024

Co-Chair Committee 2024

Lisa and Dick Cashin
PJ and Dawn Dearden
Lyn DeSantis*
Rebecca Ervey*
Sarah Finlayson and Lindley DeGarmo
Jill Ganey
Lawrence P. Holodak*
Kathleen Kheel*
Lara and Darius Mehraban
The Kyle J. Mulrooney Foundation
Lindsay O’Reilly
The Rothfeld Family Foundation
Lisa Shaari*
Barbara Sherman
Nick Velazquez*

*MDD Board Members

Ex Officio Committee 2024

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine

NYC Council Member Christopher Marte, District 1

NYC Council Member Erik Bottcher, District 3

NYC Council Member Diana Ayala, District 8

NYC Council Member Shahana Hanif, District 39

NY Assembly Member Michael Novakov, District 45

NY State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, District 74

NY State Senator Roxane J. Persaud, District 19

NY State Senator Brian Kavanagh, District 27

NY State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, District 47

NY State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, District 59

Honorary Committee 2024

Abigail Agresta-Stratton

Marie Baker-Lee

Isabel Barton

Jonah Bokaer

Kathryn Boland

Gina Borden and Drew Howard

Janis Brenner

Clarence Brooks

Linda Byrne and Page

Hallie Chametzky

Sean Curran

Christine Dakin

Marianne Egri and David Thomas

Keyla Ermecheo

Catherine Finlayson

Ara Fitzgerald

Julia Gleich

Kay Hines/Dekart Media

Dr. Susan R. Koff

Dr. Marija Krtolica

Dr. Stephanie Milling

Javi Morgado

Audrey Ross

Dr. Andrea Mantell Seidel

Jeff Slayton

Sasha Spielvogel

“Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Award 2024

Mark DeGarmo Dance’s DANCE FOR DANCE (D4D) FOR SOCIAL CHANGE 2024 honors acclaimed Dancers, Teachers, Directors, and Choreographers Phyllis Lamhut & Douglas Dunn with its “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Award 2024. Thursday, May 9, 2024, 6:30-9:00 PM, St. Mary’s Church, NYC’s Lower East Side. D4D raises awareness & funds for NYC Public Elementary School Dance & Literacy work.

ABOUT Phyllis Lamhut
Phyllis Lamhut, choreographer of 100+ works, principal dancer for 20 years with Nikolais Dance Theater and Murray Louis Dance Company, performed globally on stages, television, and National Endowment for the Arts Dance Touring and Artists in Education programs. Phyllis Lamhut Dance Company was formed in 1970. She directed National Association of Regional Ballet Craft of Choreography Conference; National Canadian Composer/Choreographer Seminar; Dance and Music Workshop, Israel; Venice Biennale Move Man project; Carlisle Project New Impulses; and was Choreography Advisor/Editor for Joyce-Soho Residency. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from NYS Council on the Arts and NY Foundation for the Arts, Mary Flagler Charitable Trust, and Meet the Composer/Choreography Project. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded her 16 Choreography Fellowships. She was on the NYU Tisch School of the Arts faculty 1987-2022. In 2013, she was Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Bieneke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching from American Dance Festival. In 2022, American Dance Guild awarded her a Lifetime Achievement Award.

ABOUT Douglas Dunn
Douglas Dunn is a New York dancer and choreographer working since 1971. He was a member of Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1969-73), and a founding member of Grand Union, a troupe that rollicked from 1970 to 1976. Following duet, solo, and film work in the 1970s, he formed Douglas Dunn + Dancers in 1978. In 1980 he set Stravinsky’s Pulcinella on Paris Opera Ballet. He collaborates with poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, composers and playwrights. In 1998 he was awarded a NY Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement, and in 2008 was honored by the French government as Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He leads Douglas Dunn + Dancers, teaches Open Structures at New York University’s Steinhardt School, and presents salons at his studio at 541 Broadway, Manhattan. His book of collected writings, Dancer Out of Sight, is available at amazon.com.

ABOUT DANCE FOR DANCE’s HONOREES
Mark DeGarmo Dance has honored USA and global artists, educators, scholars, activists, and outstanding citizens. “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Awardees include educational theorist Maxine Green (2013); actor, writer, director, and Co-Founder of The Living Theatre Judith Malina (2014); classical ballet luminaries Oleg Briansky and Mireille Brianne (2015); dance author, critic, and educator Deborah Jowitt (2016); dancer, choreographer, and dance educator Patricia Aulestia (2017); Inaugural “Arts Education Advocate” Awardee opera singer, composer, arts education advocate, and Miss America 2019, Nia Imani Franklin; and “Dance Ambassador” 2023 Awardee dancer, teacher, director, filmmaker Christine Dakin (2023).

 

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