Momentum Dance Lab
Mission Statement:
Momentum dance lab strives for excellence in dance through artistic exploration, professional training and original performance showcases. MDL offers opportunities in most aspects of dance production and arts administration, while creating outreach programs to enhance our community.
Momentum dance lab strives for excellence in dance through artistic exploration, professional training and original performance showcases. MDL offers opportunities in most aspects of dance production and arts administration, while creating outreach programs to enhance our community.
Momentum Dance Lab is a collaborative of dancers who teach, train and perform around the East Tennessee community. We are passionate about continuing professional quality dance training and performance outlets for adults, We are run by a Board of Directors and by a democratic ensemble of core company members. Company members teach classes, create choreography, direct and produce shows. The Board of Directors and the company members together do the work of administration, business development and planning. Our future will include dance and education programs for our entire region and beyond.
We need a permanent home. In that space, we plan to create a community arts haven where dancers, musicians and media artists can come together to teach lessons and put on showcases, perfomancs and fun raising events in a quality space that is affordable. We need a home with two studio spaces, storage area and an office. We would like to ake the space as environmentally friendly as possible.
Our greatest funding needs are for staffing and to create our home space. The continuation of our classes and auditions, which are open to the public, as well as the production of our company shows and anticipated outreach programs will depend on us having a solid space to call our own. We have many outreach programs in process right now. A basic outline of many of these programs follows:
Momentum Dance Lab in itself is an outreach program. We offer weekly dance classes for adults that are open to the public. These classes are low cost and offer high quality dance education for adults from beginner through advanced levels. We understand that when you have a passion for movement it is a creative outlet that you crave and so many of us missed that when our childhood and college dancing years were over. Many of us came home, started families and other more "lucrative" careers and feared our wonderful dancing days were over. We attend Workshops to bring the latest dance styles back to our community and we take pride in mentoring others to become better dancers, choreograhers and performers. We even sometimes have our young children in classes and rehearsals. It is a welcoming and encouraging environment for adults to dance and perform and we are pleased to see it grow.
The Positive Effect thought up by MDL's Roderick Beverly, will be a program to encourage dancing and improvisational "movement therapy" for HIV + and gay/lesbian/transgender dancers who want to experience and/or perform serious contemporary dance. We plan to offer a movement therapy approach in conjunction with a qualified therapist as well as an educational resource for the community and a way to build confidence and support for participants. The plans are being made for this touring company to be a model program that can be used in other communities.
The Momentum pre-professional program will focus on teaching school age children. Part dance studio, part arts school; this porgram has plans to work with other artists to create a full spectrum program for children interested in the arts. Momentum members will teach dance and choreography classes and provide experience in stage direction, lighting design and arts management. This program will expand to teach media art, music and singing lessons, acting, marketing and promotions. Like a dance studio, we will have a yearly production with this company. Unlike a dance studio, this production will be mostly student run and also feature an art show and some student created choreography. We have plans to utilize sponsorship funds to staff this program and to make scholarships available.
The Momentum Development Lab will provide mentoring in choreography, class instruction and dance technique for adult students to encourage them to find their exression through dance and to provide a basis for employment oportunities in the arts.
We need a permanent home. In that space, we plan to create a community arts haven where dancers, musicians and media artists can come together to teach lessons and put on showcases, perfomancs and fun raising events in a quality space that is affordable. We need a home with two studio spaces, storage area and an office. We would like to ake the space as environmentally friendly as possible.
Our greatest funding needs are for staffing and to create our home space. The continuation of our classes and auditions, which are open to the public, as well as the production of our company shows and anticipated outreach programs will depend on us having a solid space to call our own. We have many outreach programs in process right now. A basic outline of many of these programs follows:
Momentum Dance Lab in itself is an outreach program. We offer weekly dance classes for adults that are open to the public. These classes are low cost and offer high quality dance education for adults from beginner through advanced levels. We understand that when you have a passion for movement it is a creative outlet that you crave and so many of us missed that when our childhood and college dancing years were over. Many of us came home, started families and other more "lucrative" careers and feared our wonderful dancing days were over. We attend Workshops to bring the latest dance styles back to our community and we take pride in mentoring others to become better dancers, choreograhers and performers. We even sometimes have our young children in classes and rehearsals. It is a welcoming and encouraging environment for adults to dance and perform and we are pleased to see it grow.
The Positive Effect thought up by MDL's Roderick Beverly, will be a program to encourage dancing and improvisational "movement therapy" for HIV + and gay/lesbian/transgender dancers who want to experience and/or perform serious contemporary dance. We plan to offer a movement therapy approach in conjunction with a qualified therapist as well as an educational resource for the community and a way to build confidence and support for participants. The plans are being made for this touring company to be a model program that can be used in other communities.
The Momentum pre-professional program will focus on teaching school age children. Part dance studio, part arts school; this porgram has plans to work with other artists to create a full spectrum program for children interested in the arts. Momentum members will teach dance and choreography classes and provide experience in stage direction, lighting design and arts management. This program will expand to teach media art, music and singing lessons, acting, marketing and promotions. Like a dance studio, we will have a yearly production with this company. Unlike a dance studio, this production will be mostly student run and also feature an art show and some student created choreography. We have plans to utilize sponsorship funds to staff this program and to make scholarships available.
The Momentum Development Lab will provide mentoring in choreography, class instruction and dance technique for adult students to encourage them to find their exression through dance and to provide a basis for employment oportunities in the arts.
