Collision of Rhythm 

November 12, 2021

As part of Festival Dance's commitment to providing outstanding artistic experiences for our area youth, Collision of Rhythm presented a free educational program for area students. 

A duo of two unique artists performed at the Gladish Community and Cultural Center.  The Team performed, danced, and played 19 different instruments while giving the audience a sense of hope and joy mixed with inspiration and humor.   

Aaron Williams and Bronker Lee fill the stage as a 12 person ensemble would, amazing students, providing humor, and inspiring all 130 in-person/200 virtual participants with their message of hope!

Tango Del Cielo | March 2021

The world-class diverse dance company and music ensemble, Tango Del Cielo, created a first for us and them, with a virtual Youthreach project presented mid-March 2021. Maria Mendieta, Artistic Director, and harpist created an exceptional study guide and wove together a dynamic virtual program featuring the music and dance of Argentine Tango, Flamenco, Spanish Classical, and Latin Jazz. The program was rich in demonstrations, drawing bridges between dance, music, percussion, and science while introducing students and educators to an array of new instruments and styles of dance. 

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble  April-May 2021

The residency of CPRDE provided another dynamic change of pace for our students and teachers, who had spent the year in the unique learning situations of the COVID pandemic. The month-long residency provided our rural communities and neighboring tribes a chance to virtually experience professional, world-class dance.

The featured piece included excerpts of a work by the late Donald McKayle, entitled Uprooted: Pero Resplando, which debuted in 2015. CPRDE dancers provided the background for some of the gestures in this dance and how they communicate the instability of a life uprooted. It helped to engage the students in the dance and allowed them to reflect on the emotions portrayed by this piece about undocumented immigrants.

We traditionally bring a series of in-person, free dance classes to area schools. Our professional instructor te​aches classes of African, Jazz, and Hip Hop, including Pop & Lock. These classes are rotated each year to rural locations.

Due to COVID-19 school closures, during the spring of 2020, Festival Dance sought to reach isolated youth by creating and distributing virtual dance programs to all 14 communities that we serve. In order not to miss any students, the series was also posted to our website along with a contest to inspire participation. This effort was unprecedented and due to the nature of conditions, we were unable to develop a quick means of assessing how many students were using the teacher’s direct links or accessing the class from our website. Views to the outreach page on our website did reach 172 during this opportunity.

For the entirety of the 20-21 school year, schools were unable to host outside organizations. We were fortunate this season that our new Discover Dance instructor, Nolan Payne, was able to present the series of classes introducing African dance, Jazz, and Hip Hop, during an after school session at Palouse Prairie Charter School, where he was employed, and then during the Lapwai Elementary summer school session.

When asked what the greatest benefit of the project was, Candace Hoisington from Lapwai responded, “This class offered physical enrichment opportunities far outside the comfort level/ability of the classroom teacher. This opportunity would never happen without Festival Dance’s involvement!”

Other instructors surveyed, testified to how much the students loved the “engaging, physical activity,” and all gave the program the highest remarks available.

“I love how students that don’t usually get exposed to dance experiences and education, get the chance to see and learn.”

“Loved it! Keep offering these wonderful programs!”

--Mrs. Patera, Jefferson Elementary, 4th Grade.

“I especially liked the part when the students went on stage and did some dance moves. I thought you did a great job of explaining how to position your body to make those really cool actions!”

– Student,

St. Mary’s School, 4th Grade

This opportunity helped students understand how music and dance allows us to communicate across time and cultures.” Julie Lippay, 5th Grade Teacher, Franklin Elementary, Pullman WA.