Description
transcenDANCE’s Explore/Create/Activate program is designed as a three part program that spans an entire calendar year. The program offers youth in the National City and City Heights neighborhoods a safe and inviting environment to Explore new ways to express themselves through dance, use their bodies and minds to Create art, and Activate them as leaders for their communities. Youth living in these areas often face a universe filled with violence, loneliness, and ignorance. transcenDANCE programs offer these same youth access to a universe that promotes peace, love, support, and empowerment, creating long term affects in San Diego by mobilizing social change through performance arts based community building, leadership and service.
EXPLORE- introduces youth to technical dance training and choreography through free classes at the dance studio in National City and in outreach residencies with local middle and high schools. Explore also includes winter and spring break camps at the National City studio for high school. These camps provide robust programming that includes technical dance training, workshops led by professional dancers/choreographers, leadership training, and other fun offerings such as yoga, theatre, and creative movement.
CREATE- Youth are selected through auditions to become a part of the transcenDANCE Performance Group. The Performance Group works daily in the National City studio throughout the summer months in collaboration with professional dance instructors, choreographers, teaching artists, transcenDANCE graduates and staff to create a fully staged dance theatre show that is produced and presented at the end of the summer in a professional theatre in San Diego.
ACTIVATE- embraces the students that have participated in the create program by solidifying them as the core Performance Group and face of transcenDANCE. After the summer performance, this group meets weekly to continue dance training at a higher level. In addition, activate dancers serve as ambassadors for transcenDANCE by performing at community events and promoting transcenDANCE to their peers. transcenDANCE also activates students that have graduated from high school by offering paid internships, mentor ships, teaching artist and choreographer positions through the graduate choreographer & mentorship program.
