History of Opendance

Mission

The Opendance mission is to “open dance” by combining intergenerational, multi-cultural dancers, with various other forms of artistic expression, in order to create exciting and progressive works to perform in theatrical venues, to be accessible to the community, by offering dance and arts programming during and after school, in community centers and rural settings, through the Opendance children’s outreach division; to increase public exposure to the arts; and to dance with, and for, segments of the population not generally exposed to dance.
Background

Born from a Colombian father and American mother Michèle Ceballos Michot, spent her formative years in Bogotá, Colombia, where she started dance at the age of 6 years. Dance carried her through life’s challenges as a child and into adulthood. Later becoming a professional dancer in Europe, South America and the United States, Michele encountered many situations where she saw dancers rejected from dance studies because of body type, stereotyped because of nationality or gender, or unable to see dance performances because of money.

In 1990 she felt it was time to start her own company which would open dance up to all forms of expression, to all sorts of dancers, no matter what age, shape, gender, economic or technical level, and to the community. While acting as Ballet Director for Cindy Saillant’s Dancesation Dance Studio in Phoenix, Arizona, Michele founded Opendance, a multi-cultural dance company. With the help of dancers Deb Gregory, Jacques Myers and Cindy Lee Lewis, Opendance hit the streets, art galleries and parks taking innovative provocative and challenging works into the community. In 1994 Deb Gregory incorporated Opendance and in 1996 Deb Gregory and Tim Lykes worked with the Opendance Board of Directors and the Federal Government to obtain non-profit status for Opendance.

In 1997, Opendance formed the Opendance Arts In Education Outreach Company, and became Roster Artists with the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Outreach soon became the primary focus for Opendance. The artists soon realized that the children were hungry for dance, that the schools needed artists to help them with the incredible challenges they were and are still facing. Opendance, now in it’s 18th year, offers dance programming in school’s Valley wide, and continues to be advocates for Arts In Education throughout Arizona, Nationally and Internationally.