About

About Dances For A Variable Population (DVP)

Founded in 2005 by Naomi Goldberg Haas, Dances for a Variable Population (DVP) promotes strong and creative movement among adults of all ages and abilities. The organization’s programming includes: a multigenerational performance company that engages community members as participants and audiences; MOVEMENT SPEAKS® and Dances for Seniors, free, community-based programs for low-income, minority and culturally underserved older adults in four boroughs of NYC; performance and choreographic opportunities for older professional dance artists; and Variable POP® Dance and Fitness classes, offered year-round to adults of all ages and abilities. DVP’s site-related performances have been presented in some of New York City’s most iconic public spaces, including The New York Botanical Garden, Times Square, Washington Square Park, and the High Line. DVP has also performed at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and internationally in Poland and British Columbia. DVP is a member of the National Dance Education Organization and The International Dance Council in UNESCO, Paris. The company currently receives a funding from  the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs , the NYC Department for the Aging, among others.

About the Artistic Director

Naomi Goldberg Haas (Artistic Director) is a dancer, master teacher, choreographer and founding artistic director of Dances For A Variable Population (DVP). With DVP, Ms. Goldberg Haas has created site-related public performances at many of NYC’s most iconic public spaces including Times Square, Washington Square Park, the Whitehall Ferry Terminal, and the High Line. She also leads DVP’s education programs, including the organization’s free community-based dance workshops that have served over 5,000 seniors at 45 senior centers since 2009. 

Ms. Goldberg Haas has worked in concert dance, theatre, opera and film and has collaborated with the Klezmatics, Pulitzer prize winning playwright Tony Kushner, resident choreographer at the Mark Taper Forum, Long Beach Opera, Milwaukee Skylight Opera and Disney animation.  She studied at the School of American Ballet, Barnard College, Columbia University, holds an MFA from Tisch Dance at NYU, and began her career with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. She founded the successful mixed ability company Los Angeles Modern Dance and Ballet (1989 to 2004).  In 2012, she received the Gibney award for “ART + ACTION”. The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council awarded her the 2014 Presidents Award for the Performing Arts.  She served on the Arts, Media and Culture Committee as appointed by the Mayor’s Office for Age Friendly NYC (2015-2018). Most recently, she was awarded a 2019-2020 DANCE/USA Fellowship for Artists Addressing Social Change with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation. In February 2023, she received the New York State Dance Education Association Lifetime Impact in Dance Education award in recognition of her Extraordinary Life-long Imprint on Dance and Dance Education community.

Naomi is a leader in the field of creative aging. She presented her work with older adults throughout NYC and across the country and has published articles about her community-based dance programs MOVEMENT SPEAKS® in the national journals such as Dance Education in Practice and her work has been featured in numerous other publications and news coverage from WABC News and PIX 11 TV. She has presented this work at various conferences such as National Dance Education Organization, Teachers College, Columbia University and Face to Face/NYSCA. She is currently working on a book about MOVEMENT SPEAKS®: a dance program for older adults.

Production Team

Naomi Goldberg Haas, Artistic Director
Will Kitchings, Videographer
Jen Wagley, Photographer
Zera Bloom, Composer
Lizanne Hart Consulting, Website and Graphic Design
Matthew Dameron, Stage Manager
Sean Hardin, Sound Engineer
Walker Communications, Press
Kelly Ryan, PR