Colorado New Style Foundation

El cascanueces holiday show and celebracin de ritmos y estilos spring show: in june 2024 held our spring show with over 80 students and their families (total of 400 people in the space) in a big theater where they showcased all the different styles they learned that year, a mix of latin dances and classical dances. For the holidays wee produced a 1.25 hour show called el cascanueces (the nutcracker.) we took the traditional story of the nutcracker and revised it to be culturally relevant to latinx families. Replacing ballet with latin dance, reggeaton, jazz, cha cha cha, merengue and so much more. We took christmas themes and traditions from latin america, such as abuelita hot chocolate to replace spanish chocolate, colombian coffee instead of arabic coffee, as well as senora pinata instead of mother ginger bread.

Student teacher and assistant readiness (s.t.a.a.r) program: provided training to students 10-18 in how to teach and assist classes for the younger age group. These students receive training in anatomy, culture and history, kinesiology (to understand how the body should work when dancing,) leadership skills such as public speaking and how to recognize specific situations in classes. They also, as they grow older, have the capacity to create their own warm ups and choreographies, bringing our program's teaching full circle and giving them a voice in the learning process and community of our studio. This program also provides stipends to students to become teachers.