Who We Are
LA Dances™ is a Los Angeles based dance company
and 501(c)(3) non-profit
that creates innovative work expressing human emotions through movement. Our
choreography is heavily rooted in ballet technique with post modern
sensibilities. We seek understanding by exploring other cultures through the art
of dance as well as by learning about cultural differences from the members of
our company.
Our Purpose
LA Dances strives to expose the common human
bonds that transcend our small differences. Through movement we express man's
basic, sometimes raw, emotional truths. LA Dances’ mission is to unite people by showing
them, through dance, how we are inherently the same, regardless of our
ethnicity, age or beliefs. Unity comes from mutual understanding. We achieve our
mission via the presentation of ideas through exciting dance performances and
working with local dance oriented educational programs to share those ideas.
Our Core Values
Communicating our common humanity through dance
Dance, throughout history, has been mankind's universal language. Today, in
our small and global world, we need a universal connection that transcends our
electronic "walls". These walls have ironically, in their quest to open the
lines of communication, isolated us from our own basic natures. We all feel joy,
anger, love, sadness, grief, laughter, and movement expresses these
commonalities with crystal clarity without the need for a translator no matter
the country.
In a physical display of human emotional actions and reactions, we hope to unite
people with themselves and others, the common nature of man and thus demonstrate
our universal sameness. This is the preciousness of dance: an art form with the
ability to show the full array of the human spirit and share the universal truth
of our humanity with all who participate.
Practicing Tolerance and Diversity
Diversity is one of the building blocks of LA Dances™.
We endeavor to emulate the multiculturalism that makes both our city and country
great. Our company members hail from many ethnicities. Our repertoire is a
melting pot of dance styles coming out of many cultures.
Our company also reflects a wide age span: from people in their 20’s to their
40’s. As our population ages, we are recognizing that with proper care we can
keep our bodies strong and expect the same level of performance as younger
dancers. We will continue to push this trend because the skills and experience
an older dancer can share is invaluable.
Our diversity defines us and we wrap the quality of our work in it.
Fostering Educational Opportunities
| We have gone further than simply offering our work to the educational system.
We solicit and include talented dance students in educational institutions in
our company. At least one third of our company members each year are also in
college programs. These aspiring dance professionals are trained, rehearse and
perform along side of our seasoned professionals. This gives them the needed
experience of a life as a professional dancer replete with performances inside
the US and internationally. This, our inaugural year, we are fortunate to have four students all
together. Two dance students and one theater arts student from Pepperdine and
one dance student from Santa Monica College are among our ranks. This important
section of our company acts as a role model for students throughout our
community by sharing their stories and experiences on a level closer to the
audience.
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