30 Years of DEL: A Celebration at 92NY
On Saturday, April 25th, we celebrated 30 years of insurmountable impact on dance education.
We honored the educators, artists, advocates, and students who bring our work to life, moving us closer to making our mission — Dance for Every Child — a reality.
The day began with dance-making and collaboration—with our DEL 30th Anniversary Movement Sentence Choir led by choreographer Ephrat Asherie and DEL Facilitator Taryn Vander Hoop.
Dancers, educators, and DEL community members, and dancers from Democracy Prep Harlem High School and Young Dancemakers Company came together to co-create a new work that premiered that evening as part of our 92NY DEL at 30 event!
We called it “Lineage and Legacy.”
“DEL is a pedagogy of hope and possibility.”
— Ann Biddle, DEL Professional Learning and Curriculum Senior Consultant
Director of DEL Erin Lally and DEL Founding Faculty and Curriculum Senior Consultant Ann Biddle both offered moving remarks, before we screened two new films by Nel Shelby Productions:
“30 Years of DEL” and “The DEL Movement Sentence Choir Project.”
“Jody’s vision became a model and that model became a movement.”
— Ann Biddle, DEL Professional Learning and Curriculum Senior Consultant
We were also treated to stunning student performances.
Young Dancemakers Company dancers Kayla Bruno and Thais Fernandez performed “Focus,” choreographed by Peace Akinoye with original music by Luke Cissell.
The Democracy Prep Harlem High School Dance Team brought the house down with “Lights Up,” a collaborative work featuring 14 incredible student performers.
Kayla Bruno and Thais Fernandez
Democracy Prep Harlem High School Dance Team
The highlight of the evening was the inaugural Arnhold Dance Education Award, presented by DEL Founder Jody Gottfried Arnhold to the Paul Taylor Dance Company, accepted by Artistic Director Michael Novak — honoring their extraordinary contributions to the advancement of dance education.
Jody shared the story of how DEL came to be.
“My inspiration for founding DEL grew out of my 25 years teaching in New York City public schools. At my school, P.S. 75, I saw the transformative power of dance education on the child, the class, the school, and the community. Dance was the soul of the school. I knew then that I wanted to find a way to have a dance program in every school. To do that, I knew we needed teachers…”
“No one asks kids if they want to take math.
They take math because they take math.
And they should take dance because they take dance.”
— Jody Gottfried Arnhold, DEL Founder
The night closed with a celebratory reception in the 92NY Weill Art Gallery, filled with joy and connection.
Thank you to everyone who joined us, supported us, and has been part of the past 30 years!
All photos by Cherylynn Tsushima for Nel Shelby Productions