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Community Action Residencies 
Gibney Dance is an established leader in using movement and creativity to reach new communities. Our extensive experience includes work with domestic violence survivors, youth-at-risk and people affected by HIV/AIDS. Our Community Action Residency program allows us to share our expertise with other dancers, encourage them to provide artistic activities for communities in need, and help them forge partnerships with local social service organizations. Modeled after Gibney Dance’s highly regarded domestic violence work, Community Action Residencies provide local organizations with a powerful mechanism for extending their impact in their own communities and connecting with individuals they would not typically reach. By broadening the context in which dance is viewed, our company helps local organizations – dance presenters or social service providers – forge new relationships with audiences, media and each other. There is great potential within both the dance and domestic violence communities to replicate our community action model. Community Action Residencies provide professional dancers and dance organizations with:
 Gibney Dance shares its vision through moving performances, substantive educational workshops, and transformative social service workshops. Our Community Action Residencies combine all three of these components in a multi-faceted program that reaches special populations and builds new audiences for dance. For information and booking: Yasemin Ozumerzifon Download PRESS KIT 
* Formerly Domestic Violence Project Founded in 2000, Gibney Dance’s Community Action for Domestic Violence was the first dance project conceived to unite survivors of domestic abuse, who often have issues of self-determination and autonomy, with professional dancers, who through years of training have learned to control their physical environment with freedom and confidence. A partnership with the nation’s most respected domestic violence service organizations, this program provides a safe environment for building self-esteem through positive physical expression. Dance company members use specialized training to design and facilitate workshops that heal and empower women and their families. Participants find a new voice through movement that supports their effort to rebuild their lives. "What is it that dancers have to offer victims of domestic violence, which Gibney calls ‘the antithesis of creativity and self-expression?’ For starters, an understanding of how their bodies are inhabited by their emotions. The women they work with, Gibney says, ‘start to make peace with their lives, start to feel good about their physicality, start to believe that the creative choices they make, no matter how small, are unique and valuable".
—Holly Brubach, Vanity Fair, 2007
Domestic violence survivors are often ashamed of and alienated from their bodies, but ironically in most shelters, little or no attention is paid to the body. Community Action for Domestic Violence operates as a program of free movement workshops for low-income shelter residents, providing a safe, supportive and empowering atmosphere in which to explore physical ease and expression. After receiving specialized training, dancers design and facilitate workshops that draw from their artistic practices to address the needs of survivors. Offered during support group sessions under the supervision of a clinical social worker, workshops underscore clinical themes, address group dynamics and investigate common issues. Currently the project offers over 100 free workshops annually to help New York City families gain confidence and break the cycle of violence. Gibney Dance’s Community Action for Domestic Violence has demonstrated many times over that movement, physical awareness and creativity can play a remarkable role in healing trauma. Founded in 2000, this vital program has been offered in partnership with Sanctuary for Families, Safe Horizon, STEPS to End Family Violence and many other distinguished social service organizations. Since its inception, Community Action for Domestic Violence has received generous support from the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, Altria Group, Avon Foundation, BlackRock Alternative Advisors, Consortium for Worker Education, EILEEN FISHER, the Laura Jane Musser Fund, LEGO Children’s Fund, the Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Inc., the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and the Society for the Arts in Healthcare. 
For the past six years, Gibney Dance has pioneered the application of dancers’ self-care and wellness skills in service of improved health, confidence and wellbeing of those affected by HIV/AIDS and other issues of health and aging. Through this program, movement, wellness practices and artistic expression are tapped to provide pathways to emotional and physical wellbeing. Community Action for Health is offered in partnership with organizations that do not have access to arts programming, and could benefit substantially from our work. Specially designed to meet the needs and challenges of individuals facing health issues, Community Action for Health sessions provide a safe environment for building self-esteem through positive physical expression. Company members are skilled teachers and facilitators, who receive extensive training from social workers and psychologists in order to work effectively with special populations. Our approach encourages participants to move with ease and awareness, reconnect with their bodies, express themselves physically and verbally, and connect with others. Those affected by HIV/AIDS often suffer feelings of low self-esteem, shame and internalized stigma surrounding their illness. These feelings cause clients to distance themselves from others and impede them from seeking help from available resources. Clients need a safe place to express vulnerability and to explore emotions. The support of a caring community can help them to counter feelings of fear and insecurity, and explore emerging issues of intimacy, independence and acceptance in a positive light Through our work with HIV/AIDS, we have developed an extensive series of Take CareTM practices — a collection of dancers’ time-tested stress reduction and self-care techniques. These practices are presented with colorful Take Care CardsTM that encourage our clients to utilize them in their daily lives. Founded in 2006, Gibney Dance’s Community Action for Health has been offered in partnership with Exponents, Hetrick-Martin Institute, Hispanic AIDS Forum, Housing Works, Latino Commission on AIDS, Aid for AIDS, Positive Life, Safe Space, Ravenswood Senior Center and others. Since its inception, this initiative has received support from M·A·C AIDS Fund, Society for the Arts in Healthcare, the Senior Center Cultural Initiative (a program supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York City Department for the Aging and The Council of the City of New York) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. 
Gibney Dance brings dance, creativity and collaboration to our own Union Square neighborhood through Community Action for Youth. This free arts program provides a positive outlet for underserved youth by affording opportunities for students to work with professional artists on special creative projects. Bringing challenged teens together to learn and express, our work offers a much-needed blend of creativity, problem solving and collaboration. Teachers have described the experience as one that students “need, but do not have,” leading to “real world skills that the teachers cannot cover.” Community Action for Youth works to:
Founded in 2003, Community Action for Youth has been offered in partnership with Washington Irving High School, Gramercy Arts High School and Hetrick-Martin Institute at Harvey Milk High School. This initiative has received generous support from Ernst & Young Foundation, M·A·C AIDS Fund, Union Square Partnership, the William T. Grant Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
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