Avodah Dance is a nonprofit dance company based in NYC, fusing the art of dance with a strong sense
This page exists to further public interest in the work that Avodah Dance is known for. Our mission is to bridge communities through the art of dance and participatory engagement. One of our most profound collaborations has been with women in prison. Since 2002, Avodah has led annual week-long residencies and workshops in women’s correctional institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, and New York. Du
ring the residencies, Avodah staff teaches basic modern dance technique, choreography and improvisation, while offering an outlet for creative expression through class processes and performances. During these residencies, Avodah Dance also utilizes live percussion and rhythms, providing participants with an explorative opportunity to collaborate with our resident professional musician and his variety of world instruments. A typical residency culminates in a final performance that features the women participants and Avodah dancers dancing and performing together for audiences that include the prison’s education department (students, teachers, and administrators), guards, prison staff and administrators, and often invited family, friends and outside guests. Avodah also shares workshops with young women in juvenile detention centers such as the New Castle County Juvenile Detention Center in Delaware. In 2012 and in collaboration with Hour Children, Avodah Dance began leading and developing programs that support the children of incarcerated women. We have recently introduced our service and art making into NYC public schools, and hope to further our outreach into similar communities. You don't have to be a "dancer" to be able to dance - as we say "If you have a body YOU CAN DANCE!"
