PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release Contacts:
December 14, 2004 Deborah Reshotko, Artistic Director

Esther Gross, Program Director
303-722-0902

BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH DANCE

Denver, Colorado – SPEAKING OF DANCE is pleased to announce that we will present the Winter session of “Building Community Through Dance,” our community program of free dance workshops in which neighborhood residents of all ages work together to use the art of dancemaking as a vehicle to enhance community-building.
SPEAKING OF DANCE has just completed the Fall session of Building Community Through Dance. During the first six and a half years of this highly successful program, over 1,100 children and adults have attended workshops in our home neighborhood of Capitol Hill and in sister neighborhoods. Over 4,000 audience members have attended the free final performances pieces choreographed and danced by participants at the end of the winter session each year. Participants report that their lives change as a result of the programs: they develop trust in others, increase their self-esteem, and create stunning, heart-felt, original choreography. People of all ages created enduring intergenerational friendships, and children increased their school attendance and improved academically.

The Winter 2004 session of the workshops will run for eight weeks beginning in January. No previous dance experience is necessary. Workshops are held at Del Pueblo, Swansea, Moore School, Cheltenham and Beach Court Elementary Schools and the First Unitarian Church. The workshops teach dance and community building skills through the group process in a safe environment, and participants use them to tell their own stories in their own way.
In addition to the weekly workshops, rehearsals for the final performances will be held on Saturdays at the Temple Events Center Uptown, 9:30-noon, January 15-March 5. Under the direction of Deborah Reshotko, SOD Artistic Director, workshop participants aged eight to 78 will choreograph dance on the theme of "Working for Peace." The performances will take place on March 11 and 12, 2005, at the Temple Events Center Uptown. For information about participation, please call 303-722-0902.
SOD is a community-based dance organization with considerable experience collaborating with neighborhood organizations to achieve common goals. SOD Artistic Director and choreographer Deborah Reshotko and her dance company work with Capitol Hill residents to use art to build bridges between individuals and groups. SOD has received two special National Endowment for the Arts grants in recognition of our outstanding community arts work.

This community development project is funded in part by generous grants from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, the City and County of Denver, the Denver Foundation, Xcel Energy Foundation, the Janus Foundation, and Capitol Hill United Ministries. Performance space has been donated by the Temple Events Center Uptown, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support arts and culture in the metro area. Rehearsal space has been donated by the First Unitarian Church and the Temple Events Center Uptown.

For information or to register, please call SPEAKING OF DANCE at 303-722-0902.