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JOIN US ON MLK DAY!
Our Broadway Dance college students will perform "Dances for MLK Day" on Monday,
January 20 at 1:30pm at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Mizner Park.
Our younger Broadway Dance students will celebrate MLK Day with a performance on
Thursday, January 16 at 3:30pm at the Lois Martin Community Center in Boca Raton.
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!
A Celebration of Women's Equality Day
In 2024, DWDC premiered a new program with live music,
A Celebration of Women’s Equality Day, featuring notable women artists from the ragtime era to the present.
A highlight was the premiere of “While Birds Fly Suite” to new music by singer/composer Tamuz Nissim.
The program included a Vaudeville Suite to music by May Aufderheide,
a Motown Dance to music by Martha Reeve and the Vandellas, Haitian Dance, Voguing, and a Mambo.
The Mambo included community members who took free dance workshops with Debra Weiss.
The program’s vocal selections paid tribute to Billy Holiday, Kay Swift,
Abby Lincoln, and Judy Garland.
The program was funded, in part, by a grant
from the County of Rockland.
The dance company is working on a sequel for 2025!
Bailes Latinos
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Bailes Latinos, a series of dance classes offered at
libraries in September and October. Bailes Latinos features dances from the Dominican
Republic, Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba. It is suitable for adults and teens; no previous
experience is necessary. No partner is needed, as students will learn line dance versions
of the Merengue, Mambo, Bachata, and other Latin dances. Instructor Dr. Debra Weiss is
the Artistic Director of the Debra Weiss Dance Company (DWDC), based in Rockland
County. Debra has been dancing professionally since age 13; she has performed
throughout the US and Europe.
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. ThIn recent decades, the Latin influence has made Salsa and Merengue staples of American dance.
The 1960s brought in Motown and freestyle dances like the Bugaloo and Swim.
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