嘉年华对舞蹈领域的独特贡献源于其能够集中呈现舞者和编舞带来的过百种独特流派和风格，为纽约乃至更广泛地区的舞蹈生态起到了带动作用。参与的艺术家们将嘉年华作为平台，触及更广泛的受众、传承文化遗产、促进更多合作。一年一度的巡游和狂欢活动被公认为是全球最多样的舞蹈文化展示平台，每年观众超过15万人。,000 each year.

Since 2008, the Dance Parade organization has tapped its pool of diverse multi-cultural talent to provide Community Engagement Programs to further its mission by sharing the joy of dance with historically under represented communities along with the city-wide dance community. Throughout the year, Workshop demonstrations and residencies are provided to youth in schools and recreation centers and for older New Yorkers in senior centers.

In 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic called for isolation and social distancing, the parade, festival and education programs were quickly brought to serve an online audience.  A "Dare to Dance" video contest distributed cash prizes and attracked tens of thousands of dancers and dance enthusiasts from 91 countries around the world.

In 2021, Dance Parade teamed up with 3 time Grammy Winner, Mickela Mallozzi, and NYC Life TV to produce a feature length documentary, "The Resilience of Dance Through the Pandemic" about the stories and performances of the dance community during the pandemic. 

2022 saw the triiumphant return of the dance community with a record breaking Parade and Festival with an audience of over 120,000 who came out to see 150 organizations showcase over 100 unique styles of dance in an epic parade and five stage festival under the theme, "Back to the Streets!"

"Beyond the Zone" will be the theme for the 17th Annual Dance Parade and Festival set for May 20, 2023 which circles back to the organization's advocacy roots to work with the New York City Department of Planning, the Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment's Office of Nightlife in Mayor Adam's City of Yes Campaign. (for more info see our February 1, 2023 Press Release here).