DANCEAST COLLECTIVE

Dance for Every Body. DancEast Collective is committed to making dance accessible to students, artists, and audiences. The Dance for Every Body project was centered around the portion of our mission that seeks to offer highly-accessible, community-based dance programs. While a project focused on offering free dance instruction to pretty much anyone interested in moving their body may on the surface appear to be about dance education (and it is for sure), this project was just as much about exposure to the art of dance and building an appreciation for that art. The impact of the project is in the cultivation of love for the art of dance and the fact that we were able to offer the experience of dancing together as a community to many individuals - ranging from those with a fairly significant amount of dance education/experience to those who had never even stepped foot into a dance class before. DancEast has been offering and promoting dance education, artistry, and outreach throughout the Nashville community for more than a decade. Funding from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission - via a grant for $16,400 - allowed us to expand our reach in very exciting ways in FY25. Additional revenue is donations from community members and businesses. DancEast was founded with the intention of creating a space where anyone could dance in a positive and non-competitive environment, regardless of their background, body type, or socioeconomic level. This project moved us forward in pursuit of that goal.

DancEast Collective Youth. We were highly successful in achieving the goals for our youth programming in FY25. DancEast Collective served 63 youth between the ages of 8 and 18 in the DancEast Studio. We served an additional 28 youth in that age range in Metro Nashville Public Schools. The DancEast Collective Youth program was offered to 22 youth between the ages of 8 and 18 at no cost. An additional 12 students in that age range received dance instruction at a significantly reduced cost, and one 7-year-old did, as well. 20 youth in Metro Nashville Public Schools received dance instruction at no cost to them, and an additional 8 students in MNPS received instruction at a significantly reduced cost. 29.6% of the total 91 students served are BIPoC. While we contracted with 8, rather than the projected 14, teaching artists, we did surpass the goal of half of them identifying as BIPoC or LGBTQIA+ (75%). We paid them on average $60/hour, surpassing the goal of $50/hour. We met our goal of offering 2 youth dance performances for the community, surpassing our goal of 20 youth and 40 adults for the free show in December and also surpassing our goal of 20 free tickets given out for the April show. Revenue is from payments for youth dance lessons, ticket sales, and contracts with Metro Nashville Public Schools to provide after school dance programs. The grant was $1,600 from the Capezio Foundation.