martha

"In the East Village, there is only one dance teacher who instructs neighborhood children ages 4 to 18 in modern and ballet,
choreographs the dances they perform, creates the costumes they wear, and makes sure students who can’t pay for lessons
receive tuition assistance. Meet Martha Tornay, of East Village Dance Project (EVDP), the most inspiring and community-
oriented dance program below 14th St. Founded in 1997, with a handful of students, EVDP now serves more than 60 children
per year, 90% of whom live east of First Avenue. Many of these students take more than two classes a week, and some,
dancing with Martha for most of their lives, are showing talent at a pre-professional level. Two young students have gone on
to professional New York dance schools. “In both the modern and ballet classes, students get a clear understanding of a
clean technique,” says Martha. “Students explore musicality, become familiar with a professional theater, develop a love of
performing, and have an understanding of choreography (both mine, and developing their own).” No other dance
organization in the area comes close to this across the board approach to training young dancers.
Like the neighborhood, Martha’s dance education is inclusive: no student is turned away due to lack of funds. About 30% of
the students currently in EVDP can’t afford the cost of lessons, which are well-below uptown prices and partially underwritten
with grants from the Charlotte Ruby Cantor Fund. But as EVDP has grown, so too, has it’s need for financial support.
Martha wants to offer more tuition assistance, as well as be able to provide dance education essentials like leotards, tights
and shoes, and continue to bring in guest professionals to tutor dancers in improvisation, and build company repertory." -
EVDP advisory board

East Village Dance Project

Martha Tornay

Artistic

Director

is a graduate of

Interlochen

Arts

Academy

and a recipient of

the Fine

Arts Award in dance

technique and

choreography.

Martha has

over 3

decades of

intensive

classical ballet

studies

with

dance masters such as

Mme. Gabriela Darvash,

Gretchen

Ward Warren and

Robert Brassel.

After performing for over

years

as a soloist with

regional

and

international

ballet and

modern

companies including

Newport News

Ballet

(Virginia),

Israel Ballet (Tel

Aviv), and The

Robert

Kovich

Company (NYC),

she founded East

Village

Dance

Project.

In addition to directing

EVDP,

she

teaches dance at

New York

University’s

Experimental

Theater

Wing, Bates Dance

Festival,

and

Louisville Ballet

School.

photo- Robert London