Downtown Dance Factory News

TBT to last May & June ... EIGHT (!) of our awesome Downtown Dance Factory classes performed at the NYC Liberty basketball games, dancing center court at Madison Square Garden at the Liberty's pre-game and half-time shows.  Check them out here on our YouTube Channel.  

As of Monday, the 4th and 5th floors at 291 Broadway have been buzzing with activity ... the Fall 2017 Semester at Downtown Dance Factory has begun!  Girls and boys from 18 months through 17 years have been gracing our halls with huge smiles and looks of excitement as they headed into their studios with jazz, ballet, tap, lyrical or hip hop shoes on!  Teachers, dancers, parents and caregivers are so happy to be reunited after the summer, and we are also so happy to welcome so many new families to Downtown Dance Factory. Here's to a successful Fall Semester at DDF!

Three days, 7 shows, 2100 dancers, 7 packed audiences - a formula for one absolutely AMAZING weekend! This past weekend, Downtown Dance Factory dancers from 3 to 17 years danced their hearts out at their year-end recital.  Packing Theater One at Tribeca Performing Arts Center from Friday night straight through Sunday night, the dancers outdid themselves with their fabulous routines!  Some dancers danced in one show, some participated in all 7, and of course there were those with 6 dances in just one show!   They danced with joy and passion, not to mention skill and artistry.  DDF staff continue to astound us with their creativity and talent, not to mention their absolute dedication to making the event a success.  Thank you to our dancers, thank you to our staff, thank you to our volunteers, and thank you to our incredible community of DDF families.  We love you all!

Wth Recitals 2017 only a few days away, DDF dancers from our smallest kindis to our oldest teens are hitting the stage at BMCC's Tribeca Performing Arts Center for their final stage rehearsals.  Each day this week, the theater has been buzzing with jazz, tap, lyrical, ballet, hip hop, and breaking dancers practicing their moves and fine tuning their technique before the big weekend ... In just a day or so, the streets of Tribeca will be filled with costume-clad DDFers heading to their show.  We can't wait!!!  Recitals 2017 - here we come!

Last weekend, Downtown Dance Factory participated in the National Dance Showcase on Long Island. Competing in genres from Contemporary and Lyrical to Jazz, Tap and Musical Theater, our dancers mastered their dances with technical skill, artistry and grace, coming out on top in each and every category we entered! Our dancers were also the recipients of several NDS awards, and special judges awards, including mentions like "Stunning Musicality", the "Fred & Ginger Award", "Super Staging & Dynamics" and many more.  Thank you to all our choreographers, teachers, dancers and families for being a part of such a wonderful season. And a congratulations to all!

Last weekend, over 75 dancers from Downtown Dance Factory particpated at the Jump NYC Convention and Competition. Over two days, dancers from six to sixteen attended class after class in jazz, lyrical, contemporary, ballet, hip hop, tap and musical theater with amazing choreographers like Mia Michaels, Misha Gabriel, Andrew Winghart, Al Blackstone, Wildabeast, Mike Minery, Colby Shinn and more!  And at the competition, our Lyrical Company Senior, small groups and soloists did us proud!  What a fabulous weekend, and an inspirational experience for all!

This past weekend, Downtown Dance Factory's competition troupes spent the weekend at Groove Long Island, our first competition of the 2017 season.  We saw a little of everything from our DDF dancers as they performed in genres ranging from Ballet, Lyrical and Contemporary to Jazz, Musical Theater and Tap.  Large groups, small group, and solos alike, our dancers did us proud!  One of the high points was being awarded the Groove Long Island Choreography Award.  We also received the highest marks of the entire competition for Large Group Jazz and Large Group Musical Theater.  A huge congratulations to our dancers and our choreographers.  Well done DDF!

Downtown Dance Factory has certainly been getting to know Center Court at the Barclays Center.  This week it was Companies Violet and Orange who did us proud!  Dancing to Knock on Wood (Violet) and Bohemian Rhapsody (Orange), both groups put on quite the show for the pregame crowd ar the Brooklyn Nets vs Miami Heat game.  Ten of our dancers were then selected to sing the national anthem on the court with the basketball players!  Quite the night!    

On Sunday, Jazz Companies Red and Green rocked the Barclays Center at the Brooklyn Nets vs Toronto Raptors NBA game.  Dancing Center Court at the pregame show, both Companies wow'ed the crowd with their amazing dances.  Company Red was amazing, skilled (and adorable) dancing their Rockin' 60s routine.  And Company Green was sophistocated, smooth and just plain awesome dancing to Rumor Has It.  They both made their teacher, Hanne, super proud, not to mention all their adoring fans in the audience.  If only the Nets had pulled out the win ... next time Nets ...!    

DDFPlay, Downtown Dance Factory's brand new program for 12-36 month olds, launched this week and it was a huge success!  After our monthly free StoryDance Playgroup was so popular and led to requests by participants for MORE of the same, we introduced DDFPlay.  DDFPlay mirrors StoryDance - it fuses dance, stories, song and craft - but it does so in a weekly session and with a smaller group which allows for extra attention to each and every child.  Miss Vicki and Miss Molly had a blast with their "Play" kids - singing, dancing, crafting and reading.   And when it was over, it was hugs all around - no one wanted to leave, including the grown-ups!  For more information on DDFPlay, click here.  It's not too late to join us!