This site is a celebration of Dance Wire’s 11 year experiment
in building community through dance.

2013 - 2025

The Hypothesis

Dance doesn’t exist in a vacuum and supporting dance-makers alone overlooks the other critical parts of the equation. Since dance serves so many purposes in our community - performative, social, fitness, ceremonial to name a few - to balance the equation we also engaged with the people who benefit from a vibrant dance ecosystem.

Mission Pillars

  • PROSPERITY

    Dance Wire rejected the glorification of the starving artist. Dance plays a vital role in the greater community and we played an active role in helping dance organizations and artists thrive, not just survive. 

  • VISIBILITY

    Visibility is the one thing that every business needs to thrive. Dance Wire provided a centralized network for the whole ecosystem of dance, which served to connect the greater community to the broad scope of dance activity happening in the city.

  • INSPIRATION

    Dance is for everyone! Through effective collaboration and mutually beneficial partnerships, Dance Wire’s goal was to inspire more people to get involved in dance as artists, students, patrons, donors,  business sponsors, and champions.

Core Values

  • We unified cultures through a common language

    Movement is a universal language that crosses cultural barriers.

  • We honored the intelligence of the body

    The body is underestimated, underused and undervalued as a way to express, communicate and process.

  • Visibility is power

    We helped all artists and organizations shine.

  • We reduced isolation between groups

    Our centralized network facilitated connectivity and collaboration.

  • We celebrated the inherent diversity in dance

    All ages, races, sexual orientations, gender identities, ethnic backgrounds, socioeconomic status’, and disability status’ were given respect and a voice in our network.

  • Representation must occur at every level

    Dance artists, dance administrators, dance content and dance audiences should all be reflective of the community to create true representation.

Methodology

Like all service organizations, Dance Wire did many things. The Accomplishments page gives an overview of the wide variety of programs and activities we tried in service of our Mission and Vision.

ORGANIZATION 10 YEAR LIFESPAN

Dance Wire’s First 5 Years

From September 2013 - December 2018 Emily was a one-woman-show running all day-to-day aspects of the organization herself. She was membership manager, event producer, bookkeeper, marketing director, executive director, website manager, development director, grant writer – she played every single role a small business needs to survive. This is a common circumstance for artists and organizations trying to start something!

Next 5 Years

The second 5 years included hiring employees, moving into an official office space, launching our PROPEL and Arts Incubator programs, and of course, the global pandemic. In short, it was a series of twists and turns, growth and setbacks.

The Final Chapter

Read more on the What Next? page. >>