Resilience Dance Company Stl

Dance educationrdc provides multiple forms of dance education to the community.rdc hosts open drop-in classes four to five times a week for intermediate and advanced students, usually ages 16+, in st. Louis. These classes primarily include ballet, contemporary, modern, improvisation, and pilates. Furthermore, rdc hosted 7 master classes led by rdc's guest choreographers and visiting festival artists. In total, throughout the 2024/25 season, there were 309 class attendance from 128 students a 55% increase and 39% increase respectively from 23/24.rdc hosted three summer programs to support dance education for students ages 11-18. 18 students attended across the 3 programs, which included an open int/adv summer intensive for ages 11-18, a pre-pro intensive for high schoolers, and the choreography intensive an immersive experience for high school students which accepts based on auditions. Students in the first two programs took technique classes including modern, improvisation, and ballet, workshops including partnering and choreography, and special sessions on "mental health in dance", led by licensed counselor and board member brittni johnson, and "injury prevention", led by elizabeth westland, rdc's partner physical therapist. Pre-professional students learned and performed company rep, while summer intensive students worked on a new piece by an rdc company dancer. Both programs ended in mini studio performances, attended by a total of 70 audience members. Students in choreography intensive took morning technique class followed by an immersive rehearsal process with rdc choreographer will brighton, creating a new piece that premiered at the st. Louis contemporary dance festival. They also had access to wellness workshops led by rdc partners.lastly, rdc piloted our first youth education outreach program: readysetdance!, created for st. Louis public library's live at slpl series. This one-hour long interactive presentation performance introduces children ages 3-10 to contemporary dance, inspiring them to use their own creative voices and explore movement in the framework of time, space, and effort. Rdc reached 131 audience members with this workshop at two library locations.rdc provides rigorous yet nurturing dance education for students at affordable rates. Rdc fulfills our mission by connecting students with high-quality training in diverse techniques in addition to providing professional opportunities.

Touring and outreachresilience dance company submits short dances by season choreographers to festivals and conferences around the midwest region. In the 24/25 season, rdc toured to detroit, mi to perform as she works, the nurturer dreams. By emily duggins ehling at detroit dance city festival, presented by artlab j at the detroit institute of the arts in september 2024. Approximately 300 audience members attended this performance.in st. Louis, rdc collaborated with multiple local organizations to offer outreach performances. These included dance the vote in collaboration with ashley tate and joan lipkin in september 2024, national dance week in april 2025, dovetail "the mark" at intersect arts center in april 2025, and "in courageous form" presented by collective motion in may 2025.touring and outreach performances are critical opportunities to connect with new audiences, network with fellow professionals, develop the company's technical and artistic range, and amplify rdc's mission in new communities. They further harness the power of collaboration to reduce costs and increase impact through the arts. The performances directly support our mission to fuel human connection through dance, building bridges in and beyond our st. Louis community.

Holistic artist wellbeing programrdc provides physical and mental health resources to company dancers to promote sustainable careers and holistic wellbeing. In the 2024/25 season, these included: physical therapy sessions (twice a month) through athletico physical therapy, individual mental health therapy sessions (twice a month) through one of three partner therapists, and massage therapy (once a month) through kip taylor massage therapy. Dancers received a total of 127 hours of subsidized care.

Seen: stlseen: stl is an informal showcase of dance works by independent artists in st. Louis, produced and presented by resilience dance company. Dance artists, aged 18+, are invited to sign up to share works in progress with the community. There are no fees, no genre or time restrictions, and no formal adjudication process - artists simply sign up, show up, and share work. Seen: stl has gained momentum as one of rdc's most popular programs, giving artists much needed opportunities to perform their dances and engage with audiences. Artists benefit from having a welcoming performance platform to present and hone their work, and audiences benefit from seeing a wide stylistic range of local dance, from classical indian to experimental dance theater to hip-hop and more.39 dancers and choreographers participated in seen: stl by sharing work in one of the two 2024/25 performances: october 12th, 2024, and may 10th, 2025. Approximately 70 audience members attended in-person across both performances to view these dances.