Zenon Dance Youth Outreach

I wish you all an excellent start to the Holiday Season! I hope this message finds you and yours well. Thanks to your generous support, I am writing to update you on the progress of our Youth Outreach Project at Zenon Dance School.

The Youth Fall Session is in full swing with classes at Zenon and off-site partnerships with local public elementary and middle schools. We are diving into this school year with a full schedule and continuing to build strong relationships, extending our reach into our youth communities.

Our Summer Session provided 12 weeks of outstanding dance programming to youth in greater Minneapolis and St. Paul communities and on-site at Zenon’s Studios in Minnesota. This summer, we launched “Dancing Through Words,” a new youth dance program in collaboration with the Minnesota-Hennepin County Library system and Coffee House Press (an internationally renowned independent book publisher and arts nonprofit based in Minneapolis, MN), at three library sites. This free workshop series for ages 6-11 shares the link between words and movement and how words can inspire movement. Creative movement classes led by Zenon Dance instructors use the tools of words from our favorite children’s literature stories to inspire movement with a special guest reading from a local children’s author. This program had three one-week workshops with remarkable success, with entire families joining the class during their afternoon library trips.

Additional Summer youth programs included a partnership with MacPhail Center for Music (a community music school providing individual music lessons and group classes in over 35 instruments and voice) to help students ages 7-11 years old explore how music and movement partner well together in three – one-week Sampler Camps; and two-one-week on-site summer camp opportunities with complete enrollment for ages 3 through 11.

Zenon reached nearly fifty youth dancers this summer through these collaborations!

The Summer Session culminated in celebrating youth dancers with families and friends in an open studio classroom. The open studio highlighted the dancers’ progress after summer classes; all shared in a safe space with a welcoming community.

The Fall Session holds on-site Creative Movement, Youth Ballet, and Youth Hip Hop classes for ages 3–14-year-old dancers preparing for their Fall Showcase at the TEK Box performance space in the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. This performing opportunity helps dance students transition their dance skills from the classroom to the stage, dancing with production (lights and sound) and an audience. 

We are preparing to announce our Winter Session in mid-December for on-site classes from January through March and are excited to add additional classes for ages 11-14. This Winter, Zenon will partner with Minneapolis Park and Recreation to offer Youth Hip-Hop for two age groups, reaching students in their local communities and with a St. Paul Montessori elementary and middle school offering after-school movement classes. I look forward to sharing the details of students sharing in these great opportunities.

Your support has profoundly impacted students this Fall and touched many young hearts with the joy of dance. We are incredibly grateful for your support and continued partnership in our mission to empower youth dancers in Minnesota. You are helping Zenon make a difference, one dance step at a time.

With gratitude,

Danielle Robinson-Prater

Director

Links:

• Zenon Dance website