California Dance Institute

on KCET TV

CDI Feature
(includes link to broadcast video clip)

What does a star dancer for the Joffrey Ballet do after she leaves the stage? Carole Valleskey has found something just as fulfilling as the spotlight. And fourth-graders at five elementary schools are the lucky beneficiaries. Val Zavala profiles this hard-driving combination of artist and drill sergeant.

Make a donation online!

"Anglos, Asians, African Americans and Latinos shared the rehearsal floor as a pianist banged away and as the kids threw themselves into the dance with the unrestricted abandon of magical creatures whirling in the wind. It was fun, but not all for fun."

for complete column
CLICK HERE

Al Martinez
Los Angeles Times
excerpt from 5/26/03

CDI's Advanced Dancers Perform at Special Events Throughout Los Angeles CDI's advanced teams, SWAT (Super, Wonderful, Advanced Team) and Celebration, have performed at a number of very special events throughout the Los Angeles area, including: the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Center Theater Group at the Mark Taper Forum, LA's BEST "Lights On" event at the Staples Center; the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Kodak Theater; the U.S. Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Award Ceremony for Eagle Rock High School; the Southern California Grantmakers Association's annual convention; Northrop Grumman's Corporate Community Service Awards luncheon; and the Natural History Museum's Delacour Auditorium.

CDI Selected by Natural History Museum as Education Partner

CDI is very proud to have been chosen as one of the Los Angeles Natural History Museum's Education Partners. During the past year, the Natural History Museum turned to eighteen schools and arts organizations for creative ways to extend the mission of the Museum and enrich learning throughout the greater Los Angeles area. In collaboration with the Museum's Education Division, Educational

"CDI is inexpensive. Operating on a financial shoestring -- a frayed shoestring -- CDI is a gift to a few of this city's public schools. It makes one marvel at what educational improvements could be achieved with small sums in the service of something much scarcer than money -- imagination."

George F. Will
Syndicated Columnist, The Washington Post
excerpt from 3/25/04

view complete article

Partners deeply explore ideas inspired by the Museum's exhibitions through their own creative projects. CDI's SWAT and Celebration dancers focused on the themes raised by the Museum's exhibit Collapse?, inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's book Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed. On December 17th, 2005, SWAT and Celebration dancers performed in the Museum's Delacour Auditorium, in a production that explored the pros and cons of life in the Big City. The show was a huge success, and CDI has been invited to create another performance at the museum this Spring, based on the Sonic Scenery exhibit, for which the museum commissioned composers to create music inspired by their Permanent Collections.

CDI Performs for Influential Public Leaders at Awards Ceremony

U.S. Dept of Education Gives
Blue Ribbon Award to Eagle Rock Elementary School
November 2004

Pictured from left to right onstage: The Honorable Antonio Villaraigosa, Congressman Xavier Bacerra, CDI Director Carole Valleskey, Eagle Rock Principal Jane Sierra, CA State Secretary of Education Richard Riordan, LAUSD Superintendent Roy Romer

CDI's longest participating school, Eagle Rock Elementary, was awarded the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award from the United States Department of Education. Given the poor performance record of California schools (as cited in the recent RAND study) we felt it worth noting that Eagle Rock was the only Los Angeles school receiving this national award, one of only 200 in the nation. The principal of Eagle Rock, feeling the arts were instrumental in the school’s academic success, invited CDI dancers to perform at the award ceremony. The children danced beautifully, and CDI’s Director Carole Valleskey gave a demonstration class which included some of LA’s most influential public leaders (Antonio Villaraigosa, Xavier Bacerra, Richard Riordan and Roy Romer among them) in a “call and response” exercise, creating a wonderful photo op!

California Dance Institute is a project of Community Partners,
a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.
Funding is provided by private donations.
Contributions are tax-deductible.

California Dance Institute
P.O. Box 3027, Venice, CA 90294
(323) 301-8900
info@californiadanceinstitute.org

About CDI | Press | Donations | Contact Us

logo artwork by Marry P.
website design by ichobiz