Over 1,200 people gathered across the Playhouse Square District in late July to celebrate Community Dance Day. Hip hop music played over speakers in Playhouse Square Plaza as instructor, Cho Knight, counted the beat aloud. A mix of children, teens and adults followed along to the movement.
The event was organized by DANCECleveland and featured a wide variety of free dance classes including ballroom, flamenco, polynesian, line dance, hip hop, adaptive dance and more. The event culminated with the student showcase in the Allen Theater, featuring 15 student performances from dance studios across Northeast Ohio.
Hannah McCallister was there with a group of students from Revival Dance Complex. The students performed a lyrical piece and an open jazz production piece in the showcase. Then they participated in the hip hop lesson. Many of them had taken hip hop before, but this was a different style and atmosphere.
Nearby, a group of women nodded along to the music in matching, “DJ Dutchess” T-shirts. Keesha Williams explained they were there to teach the line dancing lesson later that morning. Her mom is “DJ Dutchess” and was leading the instruction.
As the hip hop class came to a close, two girls were still dancing. Marion Craig and her 8-year-old daughter were attending Community Dance Day for the first time. They heard about the event from a friend and the two families enjoyed learning hip hop and are looking forward to trying line dance next.
DANCECleveland celebrates dance for 70 years
When DANCECleveland began in 1956, its focus was on dance classes and education. Although DANCECleveland is primarily focused on dance production now, the organization’s ongoing commitment to education can be seen through outreach, classes and events like Community Dance Day.
Sarah Sumbrum, DANCECleveland’s Marketing and Artistic Director, described the event as a celebration of dance. “So many people dance as infants and as children. As they get older, a lot of people get intimidated thinking, oh I have to take classes or I have to have this specific training or knowledge in order to keep dancing … that’s really not true. Anyone can dance.”
Community Dance Day is a welcoming experience designed to highlight the variety of dance styles and studios across the region. People of all ages, abilities and experience levels join together to try something new and find inspiration in the art form. Part of the event’s success lies with the diversity of dance styles represented.
Abrepaso Flamenco welcomes opportunity to share flamenco’s foundational movement
Abrepaso Flamenco has provided instruction during Community Dance Dance for several years. Artistic & Executive Director Alice Lawhorn recognizes the lack of flamenco presence in Northeast Ohio. She sees Community Dance Day as an opportunity to share the foundational movement techniques and history with a wider dance community to break some of the stereotypes associated with the dance.
Lawhorn explains that most people picture a woman in a flashy red dress when they think of flamenco. For some, this sexualized imagery is all they know of the art form, but it has nothing to do with the actual origins of the dance.
Flamenco comes from an interesting mix of cultures, Lawhorn explained. The dance originates from Spain, but has cultural influence from all over the world, including West Africa, Latin America, Arabic worlds and the Romani people. Flamenco is rooted in the folk life of marginalized communities in Southern Spain where laborers like pottery makers, basket weavers and wheat harvesters used the dance as a way to push back against their oppressors.
“I think flamenco’s rhythms are very powerful – those layers of culture and history are captured in the rhythms and the singing. You don’t have to know the whole history or speak spanish. The emotions that come through the music can move people,” said Lawhorn.
Abrepaso Flamenco strives to provide a range of experiences from traditional tablaos featuring structured improvisation to works that merge other dance styles like jazz or contemporary into the flamenco performance. “We want to educate participants in the traditional structures and the culture and the history, but also give them space to find their voice within the form,” explains Lawhorn. The name of the company comes from a Spanish phrase to forge a new pathway and open space, so that’s what Abrepaso aims to do.
Community Dance Day includes opportunities to explore flamenco, contemporary, hip hop, polynesian, tap, line dance, african drum and dance, ballroom, jazz, ballet, dance fitness, muv method, contact improv or adaptive instruction. Instructors and styles vary year to year with a consistent goal to welcome everyone to try something new.
Community Dance Day culminates with the student showcase in the Allen Theather
Each spring, DANCECleveland invites studios to submit materials to be considered for the showcase. Sumbrum explains the selection process is different from a typical competition. There is no “best” performance. Instead, DANCECleveland focuses on creating a balanced showcase that celebrates a variety of studios and styles from different parts of Northeast Ohio.
About 15 schools are invited to participate. The average age of the students should be between 8-18. All styles of dance are welcome, Sumbrum emphasizes. The goal of the showcase it to celebrate all the different studios we have in Northeast Ohio.
“Everybody there is super supportive. The audience for the event cheers for eachother. There’s not anything that’s like a competiton. We’re just all on the same side and rooting for eachother. You leave inspired,” explains Ballet Theather of Ashtabula’s Director of Dance, Clover Robinson.
Ballet Theater Ashtabula returns for their fifth year participating in Community Dance Day. Advanced students train at the pre professional level and Robinson shares many students go to college for dance, dance professionally or establish careers within the arts.
Community Dance Day, however, brings a unique opportunity for these advanced dance students to learn new ways of moving and meet new dancers. Robinson describes the experience of moving across the floor with new dancers you’ve just met as a form of camaraderie and way for her students to meet others from different dance studios.
The Student Showcase playbill provides details about the students and choreography featured in Community Dance Day’s performance.This year’s showcase featured: Revival Dance Complex, The Dance Centre, Pacific Paradise Entertainment, Cleveland Ballet, Creative Motion Studios, Ballet Theater Ashtabula, NorthStar Dance Center, Nartanam Dance Academy (NDA), Martell School of Dance, Cleveland City Dance, home to City Ballet of Cleveland, The Cleveland Ballet Conservatory, Bard Dance Company, and Tap Artistry Project.
Dancing Wheels provides adaptive movement instruction so people of all abilities can participate in Community Dance Day
While many of the participants in the dance classes do have some dance experience, Community Dance Day is meant for everyone. “That’s what I love about it,” says Sumbrum. “You’ll see a class where there’s dance students who might be 8 years old, but then you’ll also see adults dancing in the same class. Or you’ll see dancers who are wheelchair dancers participating alongside the other dancers.”
“It’s a real honor (to participate in Community Dance Day) because DANCECleveland recognizes that there’s a a need for inclusivity and representation in adaptive dance,” says Sara Lawrence-Sucato, director of education and marketing manager for Dancing Wheels.
Dancing Wheels is a professional dance company featuring dancers of all abilities. School of Dancing Wheels provides classes in a variety of styles for people of all abilities, including those who use wheelchairs, are neurodivergent, are deaf or hard of hearing, blind, etc. School of Dancing Wheels is a long-time participant of Community Dance Day. This year, Lawrence-Sucato provides adaptive dance demonstration alongside the Contemporary, Tap & African dance instructors.
Lawrence-Sucato describes herself as a stand-up dancer who is proficient in wheelchair use. “We (adaptive dance insturctors) translate movement, but in this adaptive dance setting it goes beyond the physical. So, you know, perhaps providing more visuals or audible speaking cues to the participants,” says Lawrence-Sucato.
In addition to her work at Community Dance Day, Lawrence-Sucato works with audiences in schools, libraries, recreation centers, memory cafes serving people living with dementia and other organizations serving adults with disabilities.
Lawrence-Sucato recognizes dance as a core part of our lives alongside of music, food, community and family. “I really try to get people involved who may think that they might be excluded or unable to participate due to any challenges,” she says as she shares examples of simple adaptive movement like moving shoulders from a seated position or moving your head to the rhythm of the music.
Regardless of your age, experience level or abilities, many opportunities exist to engage with the dance community
Robinson (Ballet Theater Ashtabula) captures the theme of the event when she says, “Dance is a universal language. It is something that unites everyone and when we get to be surrounded by others who are experiencing dance and celebrating that, it only builds up. It only inspires us more.”
Regardless of your age, experience level or abilities, many opportunities exist to engage with the dance community. Classes for all ages are offered at studios around the region. Abrepaso Flamenco, for example, hosts a monthly jeurga, or flamenco jam, led by local artist, La Romera.
Many of the organizations involved with Community Dance Day host shows or perform. Check out what’s coming up next at DANCECleveland or see adaptive dance in action by catching a Dancing Wheels performance.
Organizations also need volunteers. Dancing Wheels, for example, offers opportunities for typically developing dancers to act as role models to dancers with disabilities.
Be sure to follow the studios or instructors who caught your eye to see more opportunities as they come up throughout the year. For those who are dance instructors, watch for next year’s Community Dance Day call for performers in spring 2027.
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