Creative Dance Center

The Creative Dance Center is known locally, nationally, and internationally for innovative teaching methods and the BrainDance. Inclusive programming for all ages and abilities includes Nurturing Baby, Caregiver/Toddler, Caregiver/Child, Early Childhood, Children and Teen, and Adult classes, including classes for seniors/elders, and Adaptive BrainDance for youth and adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Classes include creative dance, modern, ballet, and hip hop. Summer programming included multi-arts camps and a Teen Intensive sharing culturally diverse dance forms. Educator/Community Workshops offered professional development and personal enrichment for adults. CDC began sharing free dance with Mary's Place in 2016 - Mary's Place provides shelter and helps women and families move out of homelessness into more stable situations. A CDC teaching artist brought dance to children in two Mary's Place locations as part of their Tots and Kids Clubs programming, which aims to reduce trauma and provide a safe place for children. Creative Dance Center is on the Community Arts Roster for the Creative Advantage, a partnership of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and Seattle Public Schools. During the 2024-2025 school year, CDC partnered with Wedgwood and Bryant Elementary schools, and CDC teaching artists taught dance to grades K-5 through the Creative Advantage program. CDC also provided weekly dance classes to grades K-1 during the school year at the French American School of Puget Sound. Scholarships and tuition assistance were provided to families and students who would not be able to access CDC programs otherwise. CDC is an institutional member of the National Dance Education Organization and Dance and the Child International.

Kaleidoscope Dance Company is Creative Dance Center's resident modern dance company of youth ages 7-18. For the 2024-2025 season, twenty-seven children and teens were company members. The Gift of Dance Concert, featuring original choreography by Kaleidoscope dancers, was presented for three performances at the Erickson Theater in Seattle on December 7 and 8, 2024. Kaleidoscope Spring Concert, held May 9, 10, 11, 2025 at Broadway Performance Hall in Seattle, showcased the company in four performances over one weekend. Emergent, established, and BIPOC choreographers had their work seen by a wide audience. Youth choreography was also featured, amplifying artistic voices of children and teens. We offered free tickets to youth and family focused organizations to attend this concert, as well as elementary and middle school educators and educators working in the dance and arts sector. Ticket prices for seniors and youth are discounted. Scholarships and tuition assistance are given as needed to ensure that children and teens wishing to participate in the company have full access. Kaleidoscope performed an interactive, educational, and entertaining concert for local schools, Olympic View Elementary, John Rogers Elementary, and Bryant Elementary. Kaleidoscope also performed a series of free mini-concerts for participants in our Summer Dance Institute for Teachers, bringing learning to life for those educators. Kaleidoscope dancers participated in the Dance and the Child International (daCi) Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Financial aid was given to dancers who otherwise would not have been able to participate.