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Broadway Dance Program For Youth
From 1993 to 2004, the Debra Weiss Dance Company's Nyack Arts Exposure program offered children and teens professional training in dance and musical theatre after school and over the summer. In 2017, the Debra Weiss Dance Company founded a new after school program, Broadway Dance, for students in grades 3-9, near its new satellite office in Boca Raton, Florida. Students learn routines from musicals such as Hairspray and Shrek. Students perform in the community, at parks, youth centers, and special events, including Martin Luther King Day.
View 2021 MLK Day Video
Healthy Snacks No-Cook Cookbook for Kids
In 2022, Broadway Dance (BD) launched the Healthy Living Program, which includes Healthy Eating and Healthy Bodies. For Healthy Eating, the Dance Company has provided students with a planting bed, where they learn to grow their own fruits and vegetables and receive instruction in healthy nutrition. For Healthy Bodies, they do a fitness workout and learn dances related to nutrition, such as “Colors of the Garden” and “Vegetable Rap.” In 2023, BD created the Healthy Snacks No-Cook Cookbook for Kids. It features “edible art” such as Kale Clown and Pepper Pinwheel (see photos). The Healthy Living program helps children to include more fresh produce in their diet by making it free and fun. For MLK Day 2024, we are expanding the cookbook and adding an audio component to make it more accessible.
Earth Day Program: The Trees Are Singing!
Celebrate Earth Day with "The Trees are Singing!" (Los Arboles Cantan), a program of dance, poetry, and live drumming with beautiful costumes and props that will enchant students. It celebrates the beauty of spring, when trees bring forth new leaves. "Blue Sky" (Cielo Azul) is a duet dance with a billowing blue fabric that celebrates the great outdoors and keeping our air clean. "Colors of the Rainbow" (Colores de Arco Iris) displays the vibrant colors of the rainbow as dancers swirl long Chinese streamers. "Lotus Flower" (Flor de Loto) depicts the peaceful beauty of a white flower floating on a lake. Audience members are invited to portray trees in the rain forest!
Women's History Month: International Women's Day Celebration
Our women’s history month program of dance and music from Europe, South America, Africa, China, and the United States has live music by the Rockland Symphony Orchestra. Each dance salutes an unsung heroine; for example, the Italian Tarantella (see photo) is dedicated to the medieval physician Trota of Salerno, a pioneer in women’s health. The program also features compositions by female composers whose work was often unsung. This project was made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant, a regrant program of New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Governor’s office and the New York State Legislature and administered by ArtsWestchester.
America Dances!
In America Dances! the Debra Weiss Dance Company performs a social history of US dance and fashion, from the courtly Minuet to the Jazz Age Charleston, Motown moves, and Merengue.
In the 1800s, ladies’ fashions featured corsets, long gowns, and gloves.
After women got the vote in 1920, they threw away their corsets and shortened their skirts, allowing more freedom of movement. The 1960s brought in Motown and freestyle dances like the Bugaloo and Swim.
In recent decades, the Latin influence has made Salsa and Merengue staples of American dance.
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