Free Dance Education for Youth

K-12 STEAM education

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Access to arts education is an equity issue. According to the LA County Arts Ed Collective, schools with a larger share of English learners, low-income families, and students of color receive less arts instruction than others. Despite robust evidence on the benefits of dance for physical, mental, and emotional health, only 30% of LA schools offer dance in the curriculum. Dance is often only available to families who can pay for and drive to lessons, and this creates a disproportionately White and wealthy participation in dance training, and therefore dance industry representation. Students from all walks of life should have access to dance for play, work, and lifetime enrichment.

CDI offers dance instruction as a part of the school day completely free of charge to students, removing the primary barriers in accessing this art form: cost and transportation. CDI’s methodology exercises the body, mind, and spirit through intense physical movement that develops executive function skills, promotes teamwork, and incites joy. CDI motivates children to believe in themselves, to value artistic expression, and to strive for success in school and in life. With LA50 support, CDI will offer dance to six new partner schools, serving over 500 new students. We will pilot a "taster" program, where each school receives a ten-week residency culminating in a performance for the community. We hope to test this hypothesis: by participating in a short, intensive program, schools (that could not otherwise afford it) will experience the benefits of dance and advocate for semester or year-long programs in subsequent years. With more growth, we can provide more jobs to diverse working dancers and musicians in more LA schools.
Additionally, CDI will pilot a collaboration with Westside Ballet, a premier dance school in Santa Monica, to identify overlooked talent in our partner schools. CDI will invite students to Westside's Dance to Dreams summer camp, and recommend students for ongoing training through Westside's scholarship program. This will open doors for many dancers of color to pursue advanced opportunities they would not have otherwise known about or had access to.

We envision an LA county where all students get to dance. CDI serves students in grades K-8 where 80% of children are on the free lunch program (indicating an income of $33,000 or less for a family of four) and 92% are BIPOC (75% Hispanic, 8% African American, 7% White, 7% Asian). As our program grows and serves more students, we seek to redefine who does, and does not, get to dance. This work is quite scale-able, as the more funding is secured, the more students we can serve, and more LA creatives are employed as teaching artists. This unique effort will also create a bridge between public schools and the LA dance world. We see a county where income and zip code are not the only predictors of access to dance training and dance industry employment. Whether they pursue dance as a career or not, all students exposed to quality dance education have a better chance of developing into emotionally and physically healthy young adults.

Every year, CDI serves 800-1500 public school students. With support from LA2050, success would mean serving 500 new students, at least 80% of which will be either low-income or students of color. We know dance impacts students. At the end of each CDI residency, we distribute a survey to all students and teachers with a mix of quantifiable and qualitative data. In June 2024, 90% said they enjoyed having dance in school, and 92% said CDI made them feel confident and strong. 100% of classroom teachers said that CDI positively impacts their students' physical and emotional health. A successful collaboration with Westside will mean that 25 new students of color receive scholarships for ongoing dance training.
Overall, this strategic collaboration between WSBM and CDI offers a promising approach to expanding access to dance education for underserved communities in the West Side of Los Angeles while strengthening both organizations' missions and impact.

Westside Ballet will offer advanced training opportunities at their facility in Santa Monica-- after school, on weekends, and during the summer. WSB is addressing historic racism and elitism within the dance world by actively recruiting low-income dancers and dancers of color.