Dance for Dance for Social Change 2025

Mark DeGarmo Dance’s Dance for Dance (D4D) for Social Change 2025 honors internationally renowned classical ballet teachers and practitioners, Andra Corvino and Ernesta Corvino with its “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Award 2025 on Thursday, May 8, 2025, 6:30-9:00 PM, St. Mary’s Church, NYC’s Lower East Side. D4D-25 Raises Awareness and Funds for Under-Resourced, Disenfranchised, and Geographically Isolated New York City Public Elementary School Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Latine, Multiracial, and Other Elementary Schools, Students, Families and Communities.

When: Thursday, May 8th, 2025 6:30-9:00 PM
Where: St. Mary’s Church, 440 Grand Street (east of Clinton Street) NY, NY 10002
Travel: The site is one block south of Delancey Street and 3 blocks east of the F, J, M Delancey/Essex subway station. There is municipal parking on Essex St.

Tickets, sponsership, & donation: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dance-for-dance-for-social-change-2025-tickets-1206105226199?aff=oddtdtcreator
Silent Auction: https://new.biddingowl.com/D4Dsilentauction2025
Donations by Check: Dynamic Forms Inc., POB 218, Ancram NY 12502
Mark DeGarmo Dance’s Dance for Dance for Social Change 2025 celebrates MDD’s 38th anniversary as a leading NYC not-for-profit dance organization dedicated to education, performance, and intercultural community-building. The community event celebrates their 38-year commitment to provide their evidence-based dance program to the least-resourced public elementary students, schools, families, and communities of color across all 5 NYC boroughs. Without their support, funding, and dedication there is usually no dance education provided by these schools. The celebration includes a presentation with refreshments, silent auction, dance lesson, dancing, and students performing. They honor internationally renowned classical ballet teachers and practitioners, Andra Corvino and Ernesta Corvino with their “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Award 2025.

Dance for Dance is an annual Lower East Side community celebration that raises awareness and funds to support their vision, mission, and programs. That mission integrates education, performance, and intercultural community through dance. They use dance to engage and empower students. Their program, Partnerships in Literacy through Dance and Creativity, was cited as “a national model” by the National Endowment for the Arts. President Obama commended Dr. DeGarmo and Mark DeGarmo Dance for “your service to your communities and the nation.” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer designated Nov. 17, 2017 as “Mark DeGarmo Dance Day in Manhattan.” Miss America 2019 Nia Imani Franklin accepted MDD’s Arts Education Advocacy Award 2019.

About Andra Corvino and Ernesta Corvino
Andra Corvino has had over 50 years of teaching experience. A member of the ballet faculty of The Juilliard School from 1995 to 2014, Ms. Corvino has had the opportunity to work with outstanding institutions such as The Metropolitan Opera, Carmel Bach Festival, The Kennedy Center, York University (Toronto), Montclair State College, Sarah Lawrence College, SUNY/Purchase among others. Co-director of her own school in New York City for 25 years, The Dance Circle, Ms. Corvino had the satisfaction of developing and influencing many young artists. Having started her performing career as a child, Ms. Corvino had the privilege of serving as soloist and principal dancer for many companies including The Maryland Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet and Ernesta Corvino’s Dance Circle Company.
Ernesta Corvino, daughter of the acclaimed ballet master Alfredo Corvino, has lived and breathed dance since her inception. Classically trained at an early age, Ms. Corvino has spent the past 50 years performing ballet, modern, character and baroque dance all over the world. For the past 40 years she has combined teaching open classes in N.Y.C. with choreographing for and performing with her own company, Ernesta Corvino’s Dance Circle, as well as giving workshops and courses at universities and schools internationally. She is currently ballet master of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and teaches both virtually and in person at her own studio in Norwalk, Connecticut.

About Dance For Dance’s Honorees
Mark DeGarmo Dance has honored USA and global artists, educators, scholars, activists, and outstanding citizens dedicated to dance as an educational and cultural human right. “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); Ecuadorian and Mexican dancer, choreographer, and dance educator Patricia Aulestia (2017); dancers, choreographers, and teachers Phyllis Lamhut and Douglas Dunn (2024); “Arts Education Advocate” opera singer, composer, arts education advocate, and Miss America 2019, Nia Imani Franklin; and “Dance Ambassador” dancer, teacher, director, and filmmaker Christine Dakin (2023);

About us
Mark DeGarmo Dance educates NYC communities and children; creates, performs, and disseminates original artistic and scholarly work; and builds intercultural community through dance, working in NYC, USA, and internationally. It has been an anchor arts organization of NYC-owned multicultural The Clemente Center since 2001 and produced over 100 of DeGarmo’s performance works and over 30 cultural diplomacy tours in 13 countries. MDD’s annual Virtual Salon Performance Series and Global Dance Circle for Social Change have featured over 1,000 dance practitioners from 6 global continents. Their Arts Administration, Fundraising, and Citizen Leadership Internship Program pays emerging NYC professionals.

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Their programs are supported, in part, by private and public funds from American Online Giving Foundation; Jody and John Arnhold; Benevity; Frances and Benjamin Benenson Foundation; Bernheim Foundation; Blackbaud Giving Fund; Lisa and Dick Cashin; PJ and Dawn Dearden; Rev. Dr. Lindley DeGarmo and Sarah Finlayson; Friends of Mark DeGarmo Dance; Jill Ganey; The Harkness Foundation for Dance; JPMorgan Chase Foundation; Lara and Darius Mehraban; The Kyle J. Mulrooney Foundation; Mental Insight Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Network for Good; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; New York City Department of Education; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; Lindsay O'Reilly; PwC Charitable Foundation; Religious Society of Friends; The Rothfeld Family Foundation; Ruth and Seymour Klein Foundation, and Barbara Sherman.