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About CDI
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2007 Event of the Year:
One World--A Portrait Of Our Changing Planet |
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CDI also showed me that a lot of things take hard work but you can have fun at the same time.”
–Matt Rene, 4th grade |
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The California Dance Institute (CDI) is an in-school and after-school arts education program that teaches life and learning skills through dance and music. Founder and Director Carole Valleskey, formerly a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, started CDI in 2001 with 60 children. During the current school year CDI added programs to two new schools and is serving over 1000 children in seven public schools in underserved neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles. It is CDI's 5-year aim to reach approximately 3,000 students per year through our in-school and after-school programs.
Mission: The California Dance Institute motivates children to develop a personal standard of excellence by promoting confidence, fitness, self-discipline, and critical thinking through a structured and joyful dance workout.
CDI provides much needed Arts and Physical Education programs in schools throughout the Los Angeles area. The highly specialized CDI methodology used by our teaching artists helps develop the minds and bodies of the students through structured classes and child friendly dance moves.
Who CDI Serves: CDI partners with ethnically diverse and underserved schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Currently we are serving over 1000 children in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades at the following LAUSD schools: Eagle Rock Elementary, Robert F. Kennedy Elementary, Marlton School (a school for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing), Saturn Street Elementary, Third Street Elementary, and Pio Pico Span School.
In these schools, 87% of children are on the free lunch program, 81% are Hispanic, 9% are African American, 4 % are Caucasian, 3% are Filipino, and 2% are Asian. 53% are of Limited English Proficiency and 2% are Special Education students.
Addressing the Scarcity of the Arts
From 1978 to the present there has been virtually no budget for arts activities or arts education in Los Angeles schools. Fully two generations have grown up without benefiting from arts in the schools.
CDI’s teaching methodology incorporates techniques designed to promote critical thinking, and teachers attest that the skills and self-confidence that students learn in CDI classes manifest across all pedagogic subjects.
The continuity, dedication and infusion of energy that the CDI program provides are apparent throughout the school's culture and exhibited in improved classroom behavior and performance.
Organizational Status
California Dance Institute is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.
Funding is provided by private donations from people like you!
Contributions are tax-deductible.
CDI History
| Students Served | Schools Served | 2001
| 360 | Robert F. Kennedy, Eagle Rock Elementary,
Westminster Ave Elementary |
| 810 | Robert F. Kennedy, Eagle Rock Elementary, Westminster Ave Elementary, Farregut Elementary, Overland Elementary, Pio Pico Span School, Saturn Street Elementary, Compton Bunche Middle |
| 750 | Robert F. Kennedy, Eagle Rock Elementary, Westminster Ave Elementary, Pio Pico Span School, Saturn Street Elementary, Compton Bunche Middle |
| 820 | Robert F. Kennedy, Eagle Rock Elementary, Westminster Ave Elementary, Pio Pico Span School, Saturn Street Elementary, Evelyn Thurman Gratts Elementary | | 2008-2009 | 1000 | Robert F. Kennedy, Eagle Rock Elementary, Westminster Ave Elementary, Pio Pico Span School, Saturn Street Elementary, Third Street Elementary, Marlton School |
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