The Debra Weiss Dance Company is known for its vibrant, joyful and entertaining programs that have delighted audiences since the 1980s. Its repertoire uses dance as a medium for storytelling, drawing on literary sources such as world folktales, immigrant diaries, and the writings of Antoine de St. Exupery, author of The Little Prince. The company is also known for living history programs that take audiences back in time to the Victorian Era, colonial times, and the Jazz Age. DWDC has performed at Lincoln Center, National Park Service sites such as the Statue of Liberty and Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthplace, museums, festivals, schools and theatres throughout the greater metro area, in upstate NY and in the Midwest.

Director, choreographer and principal dancer Debra Weiss made her professional debut at 13 as a sprite in New York City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She was in the professional scholarship program at the Joffrey Ballet School and went on to perform for ballet and modern dance companies in New York City. The Debra Weiss Dance Company has received funding from New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Rockland County, and corporate and private sponsors. In 1994 Debra won a national honor, the Lawrence Epstein Choreography Award. In 2004 she was an artist in residence in Hawaii. In 2006 DWDC produced a CD, Meditations on Nature from Hawaii. In 2009 the company produced a DVD, Metamorphosis: A Yoga Journey through Greece with Debra Weiss. The DVD was shot outdoors on location in Athens, Delphi, and Santorini, Greece. It includes three yoga classes with guided meditations.

The company's media products reflect its expansion into the fields of health and wellness. Director Debra Weiss has many years' experience as a yoga instructor and holds a doctorate in Health Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2010 DWDC began a series of programs for cancer patients using live drumming and dance; research has shown that such programs can be beneficial to the healing process.

Mission Statement

West Third Street Dance Corp. dba Debra Weiss Dance Company is a 501 (c ) 3 nonprofit based in Rockland County, NY, with a satellite office in Palm Beach County, FL. Its mission is to provide professional dance programs whose artistic excellence is embedded in core values of inclusiveness and collaboration. Its youth programs use arts exposure as a creative avenue for building self-esteem and teamwork skills; in winter, students perform at MLK Day Celebrations, and in summer they perform an original show about saving the ocean. The dance company performs living history programs at museums and historic sites. Its free community outreach performances bring joyful dance and live music to seniors, hospital patients, and special needs audiences.

Relax with our CD, Meditations on Nature from Hawaii.

Get in shape with our DVD, Metamorphosis: A Yoga Journey through Greece with Debra Weiss.

Contact us for more information:

Debra Weiss Dance Company
3 E. Evergreen Road
Suite 101, Unit 251
New City, NY 10956
(914) 572-2126
info@debraweissdance.org

© 2023 Debra Weiss Dance Company