the harlem project
The Harlem Project, first initiated in 2016, takes place each year in and around Harlem. The project brings together professional and community performers to work with Artistic Director Matthew Westerby & the Company in rehearsal and performance, working around themes of community building, dialogue, and collaboration.
Each summer, the project ensemble gathers for a culminating free performance on the stage of the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Marcus Garvey Park (Harlem) for the Harlem community and friends & families. The project is promoted with a series of Pop-Up shows around the neighborhood – at Uptown Grand Central, at NYC Open Streets locations and in Marcus Garvey Park.
The project is supported by a network of local businesses and non-profits that provide invaluable grassroots support.
The project brings together the professional dancers of MWC and MWC 2, a Company of younger professional dancers, with participants from the Dunlevy-Milbank Center of the Children's Aid Society (Harlem), Covenant Ballet Theatre (Brooklyn) and SCAN (the Bronx). In 2022, the Harlem Project ensemble of over 75 dancers performed for the community.
The project has been supported by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone & NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the NYC City Council.
Captured during the Harlem Project in summer 2018, filmmaker Sandra DeLuca followed MWC and our young people through rehearsal and performance and offered some valuable post-show reflection. What was the project like? What did you learn? How did you grow? A valuable insight into the backstage workings of the project and of all the hard work that put our ensemble onstage!
Sandra DeLuca is an actor and monologue coach who loves video editing and documentaries. She is passionate about stories that honor people uncovering their own fully-expressed selves. You can check out her website by clicking here.
THE HARLEM PROJECT DOCUMENTARY
uptown
dances
on the lawn
Uptown Dances on the Lawn is an annual community performance project created by the Company in 2022, held on the beautiful Dongan Lawn in Fort Tryon Park in Inwood. Consisting of free performance of existing Company repertory and a new collaborative project with composer John P. Hastings and his musicians, the event also included movement experiences for the Uptown community – a yoga workshop, creative dance for children and visual art making. The project was supported by the Uptown Seed for Dance grant from the Upper Manhattan Development Zone & the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.
youth dance
MWC creates performance opportunities for young people to add to their experiences in the performing arts and to build networks of youth focused organizations in New York City and beyond. Through our signature outreach program The Harlem Project and with fully produced theatre performance programs, the Company continues to honor our mission of providing accessibility to the arts at no cost. In 2019, MWC co-produced the CUNY York College Youth Dance Showcase in Queens, where 130 dancers came together for a workshop session with the Company dancers; in April 2023 MWC is producing a Youth Dance Platform at the Hudson Guild Theatre where 12 youth dance groups will share their work with each other.
