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Welcome Message from Alejandra Duque Cifuentes and Gina Gibney

Welcome to the Reopening Dance in NYC Website! This website and all of its content are made possible through the dance community’s dedication to supporting each other. As a collective effort between DanceNYC, Gibney, and multiple dance community members, these guidelines aim to help the dance community overcome the COVID-19 pandemic safely and equitably.

Updates as of March 31, 2022

The Standard RecommendationsGeneral SummaryVaccines, and Dance Field Scenarios pages have been updated to reflect new guidance from federal, state, and local sources, including the suspension of the Key to NYC vaccination mandate for indoor fitness, dining, and entertainment; and changes to masking mandates and guidance on city- and state-wide levels. News + Updates and Resources pages have been updated. A cultural sector-wide statement made for the purpose of solidarity among the cultural community has been added to the Standard Recommendations and linked in the Dance Field Scenarios and News + Updates pages. This statement outlines the effort to advance safe and considered protocols in each part of the cultural sector, including the collective extension of vaccination and masking policies, in order to promote safe, accessible spaces and events.

Updates as of January 17, 2022

Standard Recommendations and Dance Field Scenarios have been updated to reflect new guidance from federal, state, and local sources, including government mandates. Also indicated are best practices for the dance field to advance equitable and accessible implementation of additional health and safety measures for vaccination, testing, masking, and distancing. News & Updates and General Summary pages have been added, and Resources, Vaccines, and Posters & Templates pages have been updated.

Updates as of September 17, 2021

A Vaccines page has been added with resources and information about the COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine mandates, and how to get vaccinated in New York City. Inform your decision making regarding vaccine policy with resources from the Performing Arts Org Vax Policy Database, which includes examples of vaccine policies from performing arts organizations across the country. You can also revisit the Dance/NYC’s Field-Wide Call on the Key to NYC vaccine mandate.

Updates as of September 9, 2021

Standard Recommendations and all Dance Field Scenarios have been updated to reflect new Key to NYC vaccination and safety guidance. Vaccination resources and Key to NYC information have been added to the Resources page.

Dance/NYC will host a Field-Wide Call TODAY, Thursday September 9th from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. to address the Key to NYC guidance with Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Gonzalo Casals and guests from the New York Independent Venue Association Tamara Keshecki and Morgan Deane. Register to attend the call. A recording of this call will be uploaded to the Reopening Dance in NYC Digital Toolkit website in the coming days.

Updates as of July 14, 2021

As per Governor Cuomo’s June 15 announcement, New York State’s COVID-19 Restrictions and New York Forward Industry Guidance has been lifted across many commercial settings. Due to this lift of NYS COVID-19 Restrictions and New York Forward Industry Guidance, we’ve made changes to the Standard Recommendations, Dance Field Scenarios, FAQ Page, and Posters/Templates pages. Guidance that is no longer mandatory has been archived but is still included in our Reopening Guidelines for reference and as a resource.

Updates as of May 28, 2021

We’ve updated our Standard Recommendations, Dance Field Scenarios, and FAQ Page to reflect changes in guidance as of May 19th regarding capacity limits for most businesses in New York, and New York’s adoption of CDC guidance for fully vaccinated people around masks and social distancing.

Updates as of 5/5


We’ve updated our Standard Recommendations, and Dance Field Scenarios for Performance Venues and Dance Presenters/Performance Venues to reflect New York State Department of Health Interim Guidance for Small and Medium Scale Performing Arts & Entertainment


We’ve also updated our Standard Recommendations, Dance Field Scenarios, and FAQ page to reflect updates to the NYS Department of Health Travel Advisory.

Additionally, we have added to our list of Resources.

Updates as of April 28, 2021

We’ve updated our Resources with new resources under Government, COVID-19, Advocacy, Government Outreach; Surveys, Petitions and Open Letters; Mental Health; Financial Support, General Support, Financial Resources for Independent Artists; Event Management; Additional, Additional Resources For Independent Artists, and we added the new Additional Resources for Undocumented Artists section.