Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup presents Everyone Dance, Spring 25 Featuring AHRC NYC dancers

Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup presents Everyone Dance, Spring 25 on Thursday, May 22, 2025 from 12:30-1:30PM at Columbia University’s Miller Theater, 2960 Broadway, NYC. Admission is free. To learn more, visit sndancegroup.org/events/everyone-dance-2025. To reserve tickets, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/everyone-dance-inclusive-community-dance-performance-tickets-1304179498989?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl.

SND's EVERYONE DANCE program, developed by Stefanie Nelson in 2014 in collaboration with AHRC NYC, a disabilities service organization, provides creative environments for dancers with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Manhattan.

Currently offering over 150 free weekly dance classes and performance opportunities with workshops led by Sara Galassini, Ervine Haskins, & Kareem Harris. Disabled dancers participate in classes, workshops, and performances, featuring dancers from various adult day service and employment business service programs to the general public. Intellectual disability, as opposed to physical disability, has been egregiously overlooked in terms of disability funding for art projects and artistic enrichment.

“At SND, we believe that true artistry transcends perceived limitations. Since 2014, my work with disabled dancers at AHRC NYC and my collaborations with visionary designers like Terrence Zhou at New York Fashion Week have deepened my commitment to creating platforms where all bodies and identities are celebrated. This performance reaffirms our belief that inclusion fuels creativity, challenges conventions, and reveals the limitless beauty and joy of human expression,” said Stefanie Nelson.

Program:

Prodigal Daughter, excerpt

Choreography, Costume, & Lighting Design: Thy-Lan Alcalay

Performers: Thy-Lan Alcalay, Idea Reid, Abigail Mankin, Grace Woleck, Sarah Ashkin, Noa Kamiya Sound Designer: MESA

“A Black Hole is Everything a Star Longs to Be” - Kara Walker

Choreography: Marjani-Forte Saunders in collaboration with Idea Reid

Performer: Idea Reid

Music: I Won’t Complain by Rev. Paul Jones and Empty Grail by Vernon Reid

Serenity

Choreography: Jamel Mills

Performers: Jamel Mills, Wayne Rogers, Letitia Mendez

Music: Serenity by Journey to Ix

Mime Dance

Choreographed and performed by Nadirah Walker and Enrique Viera

Music: Overnight/Lemonde by Richard Carter

The Rhythm of Life

Choreography: Holly Cruz

Performed by AHRC NYC’s Our Broadway!

Music: Rhythm of Life from Sweet Charity (sung live)

Untitled

Choreography: Kareem Harris

Performers: AHRC NYC’s Everyone Dance

Music: Last Last by Burna Boy

Audience dance party led by Ervine Haskins w AHRC NYC Dancers

NYC free public performance venues have included Theaterlab, Hudson River Park Trust Pier 64, Baryshnikov Arts Center, STEPS on Broadway, REEL ABILITIES FILM FESTIVAL, AHRC NYC’s Church Ave residence, Theater MITU, Triskelion Arts.

Everyone Dance is made possible in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, the West Harlem Development Corporation, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.