Chance To Dance: Hope Street
A community-based dance program expanding access, authorship, and visibility for young dancers.
ROLE: Founding Teaching Artist, Los Angeles Ballet
LOCATION: Los Angeles, California
PROGRAM TYPE: Community Outreach, Dance Education, Performance Project
The Friction
Los Angeles Ballet’s “Community Day” pop-up event at the Hope Street Community Center introduced families to dance programming. The events generated strong participation but did not provide students with consistent training or long-term engagement.
Many students entered the studio with limited prior exposure to dance education. Some struggled with focus, participation, or confidence inside structured classroom environments. Others hesitated to place themselves forward in the room or participate fully in creative exercises.
The program required a structure that could sustain participation over time, build trust, and create visible pathways for student growth.
The Method
A 10-week residency at the Hope Street Community Center combining ballet technique, hip-hop vocabulary, choreography, and performance preparation was developed with collaboration as a guiding philosophy.
Class structure centered student participation including music selections for classes and performances. Creative exercises incorporated movement ideas and social dance vocabulary generated by students during rehearsals.
Behavioral expectations were developed through shared classroom agreements tied to participation and group responsibility.
Movement exercises incorporated emotional identification and physical expression as part of the choreographic process. These exercises supported participation across varying confidence levels and language backgrounds.
The final choreography combined instructor-led composition with movement material generated by students during the residency.
Infrastructure
- Teaching Framework
A teacher training program that combines technical dance training alongside adaptive classroom strategies, and spatial practices designed to distribute visibility across the ensemble. - Collaborative Creative Practice
A model for student participation in music and choreographic development which connects performance preparation directly to community participation
Impact
- Pipeline
The residency created a sustained entry point into dance education for participating students and established a community-centered model for future engagement programming. - Expanded Institutional Footprint
New and sustained partnerships beyond West Los Angeles continue through today.