Fort Wayne Dance Collective - 26 Years of Dance and Movement, and Still Growing!
Incorporated in January 1979, FWDC began above Artlink, Inc. when it was located at 1126 Broadway in the West-Central Neighborhood of Fort Wayne. It quickly opened the studios to other dancers, musicians and poets focused on creating an organization to support alternative kinds of performance material and a school that would allow dance to be taught from the heart as well as from the book.
Guest Artists from New York City, San Francisco, and elsewhere expanded the range of skills both technically and creatively through summer intensive workshops. The 2nd floor studio supported the creation of a variety of dances that were performed in theatres, visual arts spaces, parks and elementary school gymnasiums. FWDC started an outreach program to allow movement to be explored by a wide range of individuals including inner-city school students, the differently-abled and seniors.
The Hall Community Center, home of the Fort Wayne Dance Collective, located at 437 E. Berry St.,
the corner of Clay and Berry. Photo by Andy Welfle.
Since that time the organization has presented such cutting-edge companies as Pilobolus, Urban Bush Women, Katari Taiko, F'loom, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Joe Goode Performance Group, Garth Fagan, Black Grace, and the Trisha Brown Dance Company.
In 1991 the Fort Wayne Dance Collective moved into a newly renovated arts space owned and operated by Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne. The Hall Community Arts Center, located at 437 East Berry Street in downtown, also houses Cinema Center, Arch and Artlink Artspace. Fort Wayne Dance Collective became a funded member of Arts United in 1999.
Programming has expanded to include on-site classes, a four-member touring company, outreach programs, and the Three Rivers Jenbe Ensemble (TRJE). Classes and workshops continue to evolve and reflect the interests and needs of the community.
The Touring Company offers different programs for schools and social service agencies. The literacy based program, "Dancing Through the Pages", brings books to life for elementary audiences. "A Village Beyond" celebrates Asian culture through Taiko drumming, T‹Ái Chi movement and Haiku poetry.
The Outreach program for youth began in 1995 and serves social service agencies with dance, drumming, puppetry and poetry. The "Identity Bridge" program was chosen as a 2005 Coming Up Taller semifinalist by the President? Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and its partner agencies, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Humanities. This selection distinguishes Fort Wayne Dance Collective? "Identity Bridge" as "one of the premier arts- and humanities-based programs in the country serving youth beyond the school hours".
Other Outreach programs have been created for Bi-County Services (since 1992), Easter Seals ARC, Lutheran Homes and Very Special Arts.
Fort Wayne Dance Collective has also received regional and national awards for arts programming which are produced and aired on the public access channel. FWDC continues to serve the Fort Wayne community and surrounding counties with a progressive art form usually only found in much larger cities. In 2005 FWDC served 26,000 children, youth and adults in the greater Fort Wayne community.
In 2006 FWDC will host and produce the Indiana Dance Festival. It is the first of its kind for dancers from the region to gather, learn, perform, and share information about dance. TRJE will also be traveling to Africa in 2006 in order to offer students an opportunity to learn African drumming, dance and culture first hand.
FWDC staff and board are excited about the future as it continues to offer cutting edge opportunities to promote the importance and excellence of movement for the healthy minds and bodies of the community.
