Dance Parade is non-profit organization that promotes dance as an expressive and unifying art form by showcasing all forms of dance. It produces an annual street parade and festival in New York City each May, on the third Saturday before Memorial Day. Through its education programming it provides workshops and residencies to schools, community groups and senior centers.
Background
Greg Miller, a social entrepreneur and dance aficionado, established the non-profit organization in December, 2006 and led an all-volunteer group that produced the inaugural parade on May 19, 2007. Over 2300 dancers from 75 organizations made their way down Manhattan’s Broadway and Fifth Avenue on and around eight floats. Ending in front of the Washington Square Memorial Arch, the parade culminated in 31 performances highlighting native New York dance styles such as hip-hop, jazz dance, break dancing, and salsa. Participants included the original B-boys, Keith and Kevin Smith; DJs Danny Tenaglia and Kool Herc; and Frieda Williams.
As defined by its Board of Directors (Mahayana Landowne, Trevor Hochman and Greg Miller), Dance parade’s mission is “to promote dance as an expressive and unifying art form by showcasing all forms of dance, educating the general public about the opportunities to experience dance, and celebrating diversity of dance in New York City by sponsoring a yearly city-wide dance parade and dance festival”.[1]
