Mission, Vision, & Legacy

Mission

Fueled by generosity and curiosity, Dance Exchange expands who gets to dance, where dance happens, what dance is about, and why dance matters.

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Vision

Dance Exchange harnesses the power of creativity and inquiry through dance to connect communities, to deepen our understanding of ourselves and to foster a more embodied, resilient and just world.

Learn about our work.

Legacy

Dance Exchange collaborates across generations, disciplines, and communities to channel the power of dancemaking as a means for dialogue, a source of critical reflection, and a creative engine for thought and action. The work we cultivate and steward today grows from a legacy and commitment to intergenerational and community exchange, artmaking at the intersection of social relevance and community participation, and moving as a way to notice our world and noticing as way to move our world.  Founded in 1976 by Liz Lerman and under the artistic direction of Cassie Meador since 2011, Dance Exchange is a non-profit dance organization based in Takoma Park, Maryland. 

Since our founding, Dance Exchange has created and supported more than 250 groundbreaking performance projects that explore content as far ranging as nuclear physics, immigration, ecology, prayer and action, aging, and the advancement of racial equity. Over the years, we have collaborated with and/or been commissioned by wide-ranging partners both nationally and internationally such as NASA, Facing Race, National Park Service, the Kennedy Center, Kohler Arts Center, Jacob’s Pillow, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Bealtaine Festival, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University, and Harvard Law School.

Dance Exchange is committed to dancemaking and creative practices that engage individuals and communities of all ages and backgrounds to cultivate a deeper understanding of themselves and advance how we come together through process and performance to envision and deepen understanding of our shared world.

Land Acknowledgement

Dance Exchange respectfully acknowledges that our building and much of our local programming is located on the occupied ancestral lands of the Nacotchtank (Anacostan) People and the Piscataway People whose presence, leadership, and care has stewarded this land throughout the generations. (Source: https://native-land.ca/).

Dancemaking and Performance

Creative Tools and Practices

Community and Creative Hub

Organizing with Artists for Change

 

Photos on this page by Jori Ketten, Classi Nance, Zachary Handler, Ben Carver, and others.