Dances For A Variable Population

Dances For A Variable Population Dances For A Variable Population is an organization devoted to sharing dance with the community!

Founded in 2005 by Naomi Goldberg Haas, Dances for a Variable Population (DVP) is a multigenerational dance company that seeks to erase the traditional boundaries between dancers and non-dancers by assembling diverse casts and providing access to movement for people of all ages and abilities. Hass, a former dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet, has developed a workshop program for seniors in conju

nction with DVP called Movement Speaks, in addition to the company’s Variable Pop Method Expressive Dance and Fitness classes at University Settlement. DVP has performed at the Joyce SoHo, the 92nd Street Y, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, PS 21 in Chatham, New York, the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Poland and the Chutzpah Festival in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company has been presented by the Times Square Alliance and Friends of the High Line and often participates in site-specifics performances, at venues such as Battery Park City, Governors Island, Hudson River Park and the Whitehall Ferry Terminal.

05/29/2026

Meet the choreographers behind REVIVAL 10.

Six artists. Twenty years of DVP. Iconic works remounted by our multigenerational company — live, free, outdoors.

This year’s Revival digs deeper than any before — opening up the archive to pieces from DVP’s earliest days, before the Revival series even existed. With more choreography from founder and Artistic Director Naomi Goldberg Haas than any Revival to date, it’s a living portrait of how this company came to be.

🗓️ SAT, JUNE 6 — 4 PM Queensbridge Park, Long Island City

🗓️ SAT, JUNE 20 — 6 PM Grant’s Tomb, Manhattan

FREE — reserve so we can save your seat.

🎟️ dvpnyc.org/revival - link in bio


REVIVAL10: Retrospective brings together iconic works from two decades of Dances for a Variable Population, remounted by...
05/22/2026

REVIVAL10: Retrospective brings together iconic works from two decades of Dances for a Variable Population, remounted by our multigenerational company and performed live, free, and outdoors across NYC.

This year's Revival is also a milestone: Naomi Goldberg Haas's final Revival as Artistic Director of DVP before she transitions to Artistic Director Emerita this fall. Ten years of Revivals. Twenty years of vision. One memorable season — that you’re not going to want to miss!

Featuring choreography by Naomi Goldberg Haas, Shirley Black-Brown Coward, Ellen Graff, Audrey Madison, Myna Majors, and Kathy Sanson — performed by the multigenerational DVP dance company.

📍 SATURDAY, JUNE 6 — 4 PM Queensbridge Park, Long Island City 41st Ave. & Vernon Blvd. 4 PM: Performance, 5 PM: All-Together Dance workshop

📍 SATURDAY, JUNE 20 — 5 PM Grant's Tomb Memorial Park, Manhattan 122nd St. & Riverside Dr. 5 PM: All-Together Dance workshop, 6 PM Performance — bring yourself, your neighbor, your kids, your elders.

FREE. Live. In person. Reservations recommended.

🎟️ Reserve your seat → dvpnyc.org/revival

We'd love to see you in the park.

📸

What can dance offer for our older adults across NYC, many facing isolation, illness, and uncertainty? This beautiful pi...
05/21/2026

What can dance offer for our older adults across NYC, many facing isolation, illness, and uncertainty? This beautiful piece from journalists Claudia Rosel and Nicola Sitch and the Pulitzer Center captures it perfectly. 🙏

Rosel and Sitch followed DVP's community of older New Yorkers as they showed up week after week to dance, connect, and defy the forces that try to make aging invisible, in Riverside Park in West Harlem.

We are deeply grateful for this story and for the way it honors our participants, especially Peter and Chris, whose words say everything:

"DVP brings people together in an attempt to overcome our loneliness." - Chris
"It's amazing how at 78 I can get better at something." - Peter

This reporting also shines a light on what's at stake, the loss of our NEA funding for DVP and so many arts organizations is real. Stories like this one remind us why we keep pursing a world in which older adults are seen and valued for their creativity, wisdom, and artistry!

Thank you to Claudia Rosel and Nicola Sitch who spent time with us, listened, and told this story with such care.

🔗 Read the full story:

It’s a frigid February morning at Grant’s Tomb, in the northern corner of Manhattan’s Riverside Park. Glacial winds tear off the Hudson River, catching in jackets and hair. Gloved hands are raised to...

Two weeks ago, Harlem Stage held our whole world.Our Legacy in Motion Gala honored Naomi Goldberg Haas and twenty years ...
05/20/2026

Two weeks ago, Harlem Stage held our whole world.

Our Legacy in Motion Gala honored Naomi Goldberg Haas and twenty years of Dances for a Variable Population — and the room reflected every part of how we got here.

Multigenerational dancers. Board members. Founding believers. New friends. People who’ve been with DVP from the very beginning.

Thank you to Council Member and State Senator for issuing proclamations honoring Naomi’s legacy and DVP’s work.

To our Board of Directors, our Campaign for the Future sponsors, our teaching artists, our dancers, our guests — you make this possible. Thank you.

A special thank you to for nourishing the room so beautifully, and to DJ Khasi for keeping the energy alive on the floor long after the program ended. The night wouldn’t have felt like it did without you.

As Naomi transitions to Artistic Director Emerita, the Campaign for the Future is underway: $400K to fund our next three years, honor Naomi’s legacy, and seed new work through an Artistic Innovation Fund. Link in bio.

05/14/2026

One week ago. We’re still feeling the love.

Twenty years of DVP. One night at that held all of it - the dancers, the decades, the of overwhelming love in the room.

“We all feel a little closer, we have more understanding, after dancing together.” - Naomi Goldberg Haas

Thank you for moving with us.

The Campaign for the Future is Live - link in bio.

This International Dance Day — Wednesday, April 29 — DVP joins BronxNet Community Television  for a Sandra Rivera double...
04/27/2026

This International Dance Day — Wednesday, April 29 — DVP joins BronxNet Community Television for a Sandra Rivera double-feature: two pieces from REVIVAL 7: Revelries, both filmed at Yolanda Garcia Park in the Bronx in 2023.

· El Corazon (The Heart) — choreographed by Sandra Rivera, performed by the Highbridge HDFC Older Adults, music by Isaac Albéniz.

· Padre Nuestro (Our Father) — Sandra Rivera's solo, music by Paco Peña, honoring Manuel Rivera Sr. and Manuel Rivera Jr.

· Tune in three times Wednesday, April 29:
▸ 8:30 AM ▸ 4 PM ▸ 10 PM
Watch on BronxNet Ch. 67 Optimum, Ch. 2133 Fios, or worldwide at bronxnet.tv.

A huge thank-you to BronxNet Community Television for opening the airwaves to community-rooted dance.

Twenty years of moving with our communities — and on this International Dance Day - we want to relive these moment with you .

04/17/2026

Join us for a public performance featuring DVP's multigenerational dancers from across New York City! Over 50 dancers from DVP's free ongoing Movement Speaks® program will bring to life an evening of past works restaged by Naomi Goldberg Haas and iconic NYC-based choreographers.

This joyful retrospective of movement and community is a moving tribute to Goldberg Haas's 20-year vision, the power of intergenerational dance, and the vibrant spirit of older adult artists across New York City.

Saturday, June 6th
⏰ 4:00 PM Performance
5:00 PM All-Together Dance Workshop
📍Queens (Location TBC)

Saturday, June 20th
⏰ 5:00 PM All-Together Dance Workshop
6:00 PM Performance
General Grant National Memorial
📍Riverside Park, Manhattan

Artistic Director:
Naomi Goldberg Haas

Choreographers:
Naomi Goldberg Haas
Shirley Black-Brown Coward
Ellen Graff
Audrey Madison
Myna Majors
Kathy Sanson

Visit dvpnyc.org/revival to learn more!
Tickets available soon!

Back in February, DVP’s Guest Artist Series brought Traditional West African Dance to Park Slope Heights & Hills Center ...
04/06/2026

Back in February, DVP’s Guest Artist Series brought Traditional West African Dance to Park Slope Heights & Hills Center for Successful Aging — led by the extraordinary Lamine Thiam. Warm-ups, drumming, footwork, and pure joy across the floor.

Lamine’s work has taken him from Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center, from the Joffrey Ballet to the stages of Spielberg films — and he brought every bit of that spirit right here to our Brooklyn community.

Swipe to see the magic. ➡️

Thank you Lamine for sharing your gift. Thank you Park Slope Heights & Hills. And thank you Council Member for your support of DVP and the communities that make moments like this possible in Districts all across the city and beyond. This is your investment in action. 🩷

Twenty years of bringing the world’s dance traditions to NYC’s older adults. Here’s to twenty more.

dvpnyc.org

Address

127 West 127th Street Suite 220
New York, NY
10027

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