DanceUp Fall 2017 Newsletter

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Moses finds a place to be free, pg. 6

Annual Auditions to enroll more students, pg. 8

Making a toast to Keep the Promiseâ„¢, pg. 10

F A L L

NEWS FROM THE WOODEN FLOOR

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The Time Is Now. The pace is accelerating in big and exciting ways at The Wooden Floor. Can you feel it?

Eight years ago, our Board of Directors and staff set an ambitious 10-Year Strategic Vision to: advance our current model, grow local impact, and increase visibility and advocacy. While grow local impact has extended to include our first Licensed Partnership with CityDance in Washington, DC, we have never taken our eyes off the goal to serve more children in Orange County.

Dawn S. Reese Chief Executive OďŹƒcer @DawnSReese

This summer, I invited some of our students for the first hard hat tour of our second campus location within the Depot at Santiago workforce housing complex. They inspired me, and frankly, made me emotional while witnessing their reactions to our growing campus.

The moment these students connected that this new space would allow 100 more children to have the same opportunity they had to join The Wooden Floor, they were overjoyed and sentimental. One of my favorite moments was coming together to write our wishes and hopes for their future peers on the entry wall framing.

We expressed our aspirations for their journeys ahead.

I wrote: The little feet that enter this building will follow on the path of the many who have blazed the trail before them since 1983!

By being a passionate supporter and advocate, you are already part of our plans to impact the lives of more young people. As you may have heard, we are in the second year of a four-year Comprehensive Campaign, Lift: The Campaign for The Wooden Floor. Under the leadership of Campaign Chairman, Damien Jordan, and our passionate Campaign Cabinet and Board of Directors, we are raising significant funds for three major initiatives: 1) deepening our current programs, 2) campus expansion, and, 3) sustainability and excellence through Endowment growth, to keep us at the leading edge of what our students and families will need to access brighter futures.

I hope you will also extend your good wishes and hopes, and join us in this next big leap forward. It is only with the hands and hearts of many that we can nurture our next generation of young leaders to know‌from here, you can step anywhere.

With gratitude,

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Mission

Moment

The Wooden Floor

Several students had the opportunity to witness the construction of The Wooden Floor's second location, within the Depot at Santiago workforce housing complex. After touring the future dance studio and education center, these students were excited to write messages of hope on the studio's bare walls to incoming students. Pictured below, Vanessa writes, "The Wooden Floor is an inspiring place, and I am so glad that there is a second one. The Wooden Floor is my home."

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Newsfeed Snapshots of our youth in motion.

Follow us on

@TheWoodenFloor

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CO-CREATION LAB: Acclaimed choreographer Seรกn Curran collaborated with students on a new dance piece titled Reaction Yield. Pictured here, Seรกn is teaching students how to warm-up not only their bodies, but their minds as well.

This important step teaches our students to stay focused and foster creativity.

Co-Creation Lab was made possible in part by a grant from the Surdna Foundation.

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DANCE FILMMAKING WORKSHOP: Students worked with filmmaker Tiffany Rhynard to co-create three dance films. They used material derived from their lives and interests relevant to them and their communities, while learning the difference between creating dance for the stage and for the camera.

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The Wooden Floor

COLLEGE & CAREER READINESS: The Class of 2018 participated in a 4-week college and career readiness workshop. Students wrote résumés, conducted mock interviews, wrote personal statements, and explored college majors. This ensures that our students consider their options for the future and take the necessary steps to move into higher education.

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BRINGING A BOOK TO LIFE: Students who participated in our summer reading workshop read the 2015 Newbery Honor Book, El Deafo. The book describes the experience of a newly hearing-impaired girl trying to adjust. To facilitate project-based learning, Amnon and Jill Damti from the Two Worlds Foundation provided an exciting opportunity for our students—learning dance through sign language!

Hearing-impaired Amnon coached the students on movement. They learned how to spell their names and follow directions in sign language, while forming a personal connection to El Deafo.

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SUPERHERO THEMED CAST PARTY: While the cast of the 34th Annual Concert celebrated their artistic accomplishments, members of our Parent Leadership Council gathered to make the evening as fun as possible. These parents cooked up a delicious dinner for the 100+ students with a smile, and some even dressed in the event's superhero theme! We are always so grateful for the many ways they contribute to our mission.

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In the First Person Moses, Class of 2019 When I auditioned for The Wooden Floor, I just wanted to have fun and forget about my troubles at home and at school. I have seven siblings, and it was cramped at home. In elementary school, I was getting picked on and bullied. I came to The Wooden Floor because I wanted a place to be free.

I just wanted to move around, and there wasn’t any other place to let me express myself. It was perfect here. I got exactly what I wanted, but it was even better than I had thought. I didn’t know The Wooden Floor offered more than dance.

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Once I learned about the programs offered to succeed in high school, it was even more amazing.

I will be the first in my family to go to college, so I can’t ask them for advice. I can’t get that from school either—the counselors just don’t have a lot of time. The staff at The Wooden Floor do.

This is a life-changing place. The Wooden Floor helped me build my character in a time when I didn’t know how to feel or who to go to for help.

Everyone at The Wooden Floor wants me to be my best.

The Wooden Floor

Moses recently started his junior year at Saddleback High School where he has a 3.7 GPA and is a part of the school’s STEM Biomedical Academy. He has his eyes set on attending UC Irvine or UC Santa Barbara to major in biomedical engineering, with the hopes of “trying to create technologies that benefit the human system.” In addition to his regular dance classes at The Wooden Floor, he has participated in our Annual Concert, College and Career Readiness workshops, as well as summer leadership camps.

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The Wooden Floor's Annual Auditions Now enrolling an additional 100 students this year

The Wooden Floor is thrilled to be enrolling 100 more young people at our Annual Auditions this year, furthering our strategic vision to serve more youth locally. This fall, we will begin to serve 475 students year-round at our main campus, and through expansion at a nearby annex within the Depot at Santiago workforce housing complex, scheduled to open by the end of 2017. We will operate our two sites as connected campuses, meaning that the Depot at Santiago campus will be an extension of our current Main Street campus.

We will be offering all our current services at both locations to ensure that all students will receive the same quality of comprehensive programming to meet their needs each day.

Each year, about 400 youth audition for enrollment at The Wooden Floor, and roughly 80 percent are not accepted due to high student retention and

Annual Auditions 8

Saturday, October 21, 2017 8:30am-1:30pm

space constraints at our current campus. Our Annual Auditions serve as the pivotal moment of change for our students, knowing that once they gain enrollment to The Wooden Floor, they will gain the services and support to access higher education. Staff, board members, and volunteers are often overcome with joy for the students accepted and will be even more overjoyed knowing this year more students will have the opportunity due to our increased capacity to serve more students and their families.

We encourage you to come by or volunteer on this momentous day to see first-hand how much our community needs The Wooden Floor. If you know a child who needs us, please help spread the word to our community about this extraordinary opportunity to join The Wooden Floor. Details in English and Spanish can be found at www.TheWoodenFloor.org/Auditions.

at The Wooden Floor 1810 North Main Street Santa Ana, CA 92706

714.541.8314 ext. 128 www.TheWoodenFloor.org/Auditions

The Wooden Floor

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2016-2017 Board of Directors James A. Driscoll,* Chairman Community Leader

Felisha Luna, Parent Representative Community Leader

Ernesto M. Vasquez,* FAIA, NCARB, Immediate Past Chairman Partner & CEO, SVA Architects, Inc.

Catherine M. MacIver, Community Leader

Arthur Ong,* Vice Chairman Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel PIMCO Judith F. Posnikoff, PhD,* Treasurer Managing Director, Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company, LLC

Special thanks to our 2017 Sponsors to date* Upcoming event details on page 10.

Premier Sponsors Joan & Don Beall Jane & Jim Driscoll Sharon & Terry Hartshorn Ginnie & Rich Hunsaker Janice & John Markley

Epiphany Owen,* Secretary Partner, Government & Regulatory Law, Rutan & Tucker, LLP Theresa Allen, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, First Republic Private Wealth Management Sasha Ayloush, Customer Service Manager and Secretary of the Board of Directors, Hydraflow Gilbert R. Cisneros, President and Co-Founder, The Gilbert & Jacki Cisneros Foundation

Gold Sponsors Yvonne & Damien Jordan Judith Posnikoff Mary & Gary Tolar

Michelle Dean, Community Leader

Silver Sponsors

Frome Family Foundation Adele & Bryan Green Hydraflow - Ayloush Family Ginger & Arthur Ong Thompson Family Foundation

Victoria Marks, Choreographer/Professor, University of California, Los Angeles Danny Melita, Community Leader Yvonne R. O’Neill,* Certified Public Accountant, O’Neill Financial Management Dawn S. Reese, CFRE Chief Executive Officer, The Wooden Floor Kristy Santimyer-Melita, Community Leader Saar Swartzon,* Principal Attorney, Cohn & Swartzon, a Professional Law Corporation Mary E. Tolar, Vice President and Senior Strategic Program Manager, American Funds/Capital Group Companies, Inc. Joan Beall, Board Emerita Community Leader Beth A. Burns, Board Emerita Founder of The Wooden Floor and Artistic Director (’83-’05)

Evangelina Gonzalez, Parent Representative Community Leader

Richard C. Hunsaker, Board Emeritus President, Hunsaker Management

Bryan Green, Financial Advisor, Edward Jones

Virginia Hunsaker, Board Emerita Community Leader

Sharon Hartshorn, Community Leader

Yvonne M. Jordan, Board Emerita Community Leader

Damien M. Jordan,* Socorro Vasquez, General Manager, Retired, American Funds/Capital Group Board Emerita Community Leader Companies, Inc.

Bronze Sponsors Theresa & Jonathon Allen Haskell & White Copper Sponsors Laurie & Steve Duncan Kristy Santimyer-Melita & Danny Melita *As of August 7, 2017.

Jeremy Krout, President/CEO, Environmental Planning Development Solutions, Inc.

*Executive Committee Members

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danceup Upcoming Event

34TH ANNUAL CONCERT OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION JUNE 1, 2017

BOARD CHAIRMAN JIM DRISCOLL, LEFT, HONORARY CHAIRS JANICE AND JOHN MARKLEY, AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER DAWN S. REESE WITH CLASS OF 2017 GRADUATE JOCELYN

Annual Concert Underwriters, Dance Partners, supporters, and their guests celebrated the accomplishments of our students at the Opening Night Reception for Connected spaces—our 34th Annual Concert. Guests visited with the cast of more than 120 dancers, to share in their excitement before the performance, which debuted three world-premiere works.

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 6:00pm Big Canyon Country Club Newport Beach, CA Orange County’s premier wine tasting benefit, returning for its 11th year, offers guests the opportunity to enjoy a hand-picked selection of highly rated wines from around the world and the extraordinary tasting experience this benefit is known for.

The evening will raise funds for The Wooden Floor’s award-winning youth development programs, serving young people from lowincome communities through the power of dance and access to higher education. 100 percent of students who graduate immediately enroll in higher education. Please join us to keep the promise to these young people, that “from here, you can step anywhere.”

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Event Details This benefit sells out each year.

The evening includes: • A fun, strolling blind wine tasting competition • Signature small plates • Sharing of student success stories • Auctions and opportunity drawings • Giving opportunities

ANNUAL CONCERT ATTENDEES AND DANCE PARTNERS SHARON AND FRANK GOVERN

Sponsorships ranging from $1,500-$30,000 are available.

Individual Tickets are $350 per person.

Reserve your tickets or sponsorship today with the enclosed envelope or at www.TheWoodenFloor.org/Benefit.

ANNUAL CONCERT HONORARY UNDERW DAMIEN JORDAN, STUDENTS IAN AND HONORARY UNDERWRITER AND BOARD

The Wooden Floor

Supporter Sightings 5TH STEP BEYOND ANNUAL BREAKFAST ® APRIL 27, 2017 Over 125 guests gathered in celebration of the Class of 2017, our largest graduating class to date, and our 13th consecutive class to have 100 percent of students graduate high school on time and immediately enroll in higher education. Local business, civic, and community leaders gathered for the event, with this year raising $305,000. This event was named one of the Orange County Business Journal’s Top Three Fundraising Breakfasts for three consecutive years.

STEP BEYOND ANNUAL BREAKFAST KEYNOTE SPEAKER DR. ALICE POLICE

BOARD MEMBER SASHA AYLOUSH, LEFT, CAMPAIGN CABINET MEMBER TOD WHITE, AND DIRECTOR OF STUDENT DEVELOPMENT WENDY MENDOZA AT THE STEP BEYOND ANNUAL BREAKFAST

"I want all the graduates to close their eyes and think of everything you can be, everything you want to accomplish, and take a step beyond."

- Dr. Alice Police, Medical Director at UC Irvine Pacific Breast Care Center and Surgical Oncologist

CO-CREATION LAB OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION JULY 20, 2017 Guests gathered at an intimate reception prior to the opening night premiere of a powerful collaboration between The Wooden Floor's young dancers, the acclaimed Seán Curran Company, and filmmaker Tiffany Rhynard.

RITER AND CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN QUETZALI, AND ANNUAL CONCERT EMERITA YVONNE JORDAN

CO-CREATION LAB ATTENDEES MYRA DUNCAN, LEFT, PETER DUNCAN, JR., DANIELLE WEILER, CHRIS WEILER, AND PETER DUNCAN, SR.

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RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

NONPROFIT US POSTAGE

PAID

1810 North Main Street Santa Ana, CA 92706-2727 714.541.8314 www.TheWoodenFloor.org

SANTA ANA, CA PERMIT NO. 949

Come join us!

11TH Annual Keep the Promise™ Wine Tasting Benefit

Sample the world's most exquisite wines. Proceeds help us keep the promise to each of our underserved students: from here, you can step anywhere.

Sponsorship and ticket information available at www.TheWoodenFloor.org/WineTasting.

October 21, 2017 Annual Auditions

Know a child who needs us? Spread the word to our community that we will be enrolling an additional 100 students this year!

More information at www.TheWoodenFloor.org/Auditions.

November 6, 2017

3650 New Student Reception

Help welcome our 100+ new students for day-one of their 10-year (3,650-day) journeys at The Wooden Floor.

More information at www.TheWoodenFloor.org/Events.

Photography by Christine Cotter, Steven Georges, and Edie Layland. ©2017 The Wooden Floor. DanceUp is a trademark of The Wooden Floor.

September 14, 2017