"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 18 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