On this week’s episode, I speak with Ava and Sophia P., two sisters from New York City who are passionate about dance. After years of lessons, rehearsals, and recitals, they realized that they had accumulated piles of dance shoes, leotards, and costumes. They decided to set up a collection box at their dance studio to collect gently used dance equipment and to donate it to under-resourced dance programs in the United States and around the world. Over the last four years, Donate2Dance has become the largest dance charity in the world. They connect with teens around the country who become “Ambassadors” for Donate2Dance, matching them with organizations in their local communities that can receive the costumes, leotards and shoes that are collected. Ava and Sophia have also partnered with dance schools around the world to provide dance lessons (via Zoom). Ava and Sophia talk to us about the great satisfaction they get from knowing how much a new leotard or a pair of tap shoes means to someone who wants to dance but doesn’t have the resources to purchase the equipment they need to do so. They also remind us about how important arts education is in every community, and how unfair it is that the creative and performing arts are typically the first things to be eliminated during budget cuts.
Follow Donate2Dance at @donate2dance or reach out to learn more about becoming an ambassador. Ava and Sophia can be reached through their website at www.donate2dance.org.
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