About NDA

New Dance Alliance is a performing arts nonprofit. Our mission, from the earliest days, has been to support experimental movement-based artists. In recent years, we have made an explicit commitment to equity and inclusion by creating programs that center the work of artists from historically marginalized communities of color, LGBTQ artists, and artists with disabilities.  We provide space, residencies, performance, and networking opportunities that help artists cultivate relationships, develop their artistry, and open doors to share their work in the US and internationally.

NDA’s legacy of services to artists and audiences began four decades ago when Karen Bernard opened up her Tribeca loft as a low-cost rehearsal space. From those first moments, its programs have grown organically and in direct response to artists and audiences. Today, NDA’s goals remain deeply rooted in those founding principles and have expanded in response to current artistic challenges and goals. NDA’s programming fosters artists and audiences through annual events, retreats, educational panels, and performances.

Our programs include Performance Mix Festival, Black Artists Space to Create Residency, LiftOff Residency and Work Sessions, Satellite, and Karen Bernard Projects.

New Dance Alliance views the function of supporting experimental performance works as carrying forward a distinct heritage of art in America. From Isadora Duncan and her shoeless dances to John Cage and his amplified toasters to Jennifer Monson and her migration projects, American artists have been privileged in their Constitutional right to defy conventions. NDA continues this American legacy by advancing performance works that challenge defined artistic genres and forms. As testimony to its efforts, NDA claims a roster of over 600 artists who have pioneered new methods in artistic creation. These artists have distinct voices within shared genres and have often gone on to become award-winning leaders in the field. Among our artists is post-modernist Douglas Dunn; hip-hop-influenced Doug Elkins; the poignant and funny Keely Garfield and David Parker; emotion-driven movement experimenters Aviva Geismar, Molly O’Brien and RoseAnne Spradlin; improvisation mavericks Jennifer Monson, Yvonne Meier, and Sally Silvers; collaborative movement/music artists Cherylyn Lavagnino/Andy Teirstein and Nina Winthrop/Jon Gibson; international performance artists Marie Brassard (Montreal) and Ivo Dimchev (Bulgaria); culturally influenced artists Merian Soto, Kumiko Kumoto and Yasuko Yakoshi; multimedia dance theater artists Jane Comfort and Troika Ranch; and new generations — Melinda Ring, Rebecca Patek, and Luciana Achugar; and championed by NDA – Dana Michel touted as a best female contemporary choreographer in 2014 in the New York Times.