Gibney Dance Center welcomes community to its new downtown branch

Gina Gibney
(photo: Christopher Duggan © Gina Gibney Dance, Inc.) 

This is our space. It’s a safe space. And here is our opportunity to share our stories and look forward to what may be.

With those words, Lane Harwell (Executive Director, Dance/NYC) welcomed members of New York’s dance community and its supporters to an open discussion about Gibney Dance’s successful campaign to rescue 280 Broadway--former home of Dance New Amsterdam–and preserve it for the field of dance.  The SRO crowd, gathered in the 130-seat theater space, erupted in applause as Gibney Dance Artistic Director and CEO Gina Gibney announced the organization’s 20-year lease for 280 Broadway and its receipt of a $3 million grant from the Agnes Varis Trust.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and State Senator Daniel Squadron offered congratulatory remarks. GDC staff members were introduced, and panelists Adair Smith (Gibney Dance Executive Director), Gus Solomons, Jr. (Gibney advisor), and Kathleen Hughes (Assistant Commissioner for Program Services, Department of Cultural Affairs) spoke of their hopes and visions for the project.

Harwell opened the floor for questions and ideas from the audience. Four main questions or themes emerged from this segment of the evening:

● How can Gibney Dance Center 280 interact with its Tribeca neighborhood as a responsive, useful, creative participant in the downtown ecosystem? How can GDC 280's presence matter, not only in Tribeca, but in this diverse city as a whole?

● How can GDC 280 provide support and resources for the process of developing individual creative voices and original aesthetics in dance?

● How can GDC 280 provide consistent access to space for tech sessions, enhancing the quality of the presentation of work?

● How can GDC 280 provide physical space and opportunities for artists to interact more--especially in informal, social ways--fostering an atmosphere of creative cross-pollination and potential collaboration?

Gibney Dance welcomes you to share your thoughts, bring new ideas or offer your assistance at a series of small group discussions at GDC 890 Broadway, Fifth Floor, Studio 6:

Monday, February 3

4-5pm: Open Discussion/ Welcome Session Follow-up (Eva Yaa Asantewaa)

5-6pm: Rehearsal Space Needs (Adair Smith)

6-7pm: Class, Training and Education Needs (Hilary Easton)

Click to RSVP for February 3 at Eventbrite 

Tuesday, February 18

4-5pm: Performance Space Needs (Sara Juli)

5-6pm: Community Action and Advocacy (Amy Miller, Yasemin Ozumerzifon)

6-7pm: Open Discussion and Thoughts on Next Steps (Sydney Skybetter)

Click to RSVP for February 18 at Eventbrite

All are welcome to come to any and all sessions!

For further information on the expansion, click here.