NYCDA History
Incorporated in the early fall of 1993, New York City Dance Alliance was founded by Executive Director, Joe Lanteri, to create a dance convention with a cutting edge point of view, from the dance capital of the world, New York City. His first step was to contact the person that would help him create this vision, NYCDA Managing Director, Leah Brandon. During the winter of 1994, NYCDA traveled to four pilot cities with their original five distinguished faculty – Suzi Taylor, AC Ciulla, Lisa Danias, Alan Onickel and of course, Joe, himself.
The first regional season was in 1994-95 and included ten regional cities and the very first National Season Finale! during the summer of 1995. The goal was to “re-invent” the dance convention and bring an innovative and unique perspective. From the initial focus on education and the dancers experience, to the “raising of the bar” regarding the production value of the actual event, NYCDA has stayed true to these goals and has remained in the forefront of the dance convention industry for over seventeen years.
We are proud of our journey. From the first 10 city tour to our current 24 cities, we have always been committed to bringing you MORE. Yes, we were among the first to bring you a state-of-the-art stage with marley flooring, wings, professional lights and sound. Yes, our systems and staff are known to be the best – expect your experience to be organized and smoothly run. Yes, we have ALWAYS featured faculty that are truly incredible teachers, as well as dancers and choreographers, who bring you the unequalled energy of NYC Dance.
But, even more importantly, we remain singular in the incredible experiences, professional opportunities and resources we offer the NYCDA family. We are very excited about one of our newest ventures, the NYC Dance Alliance Foundation and it’s College Scholarship Program, that promises to help us fulfill our ultimate goal – investing in the future of our NYCDA family and helping young dancers take the “next step” in their lives.