6th Day Dance Company

6th Day is active and intentional in providing outreach to at risk youth, disadvantaged, and special needs people to mentor, teach movement skills, and provide alternative outlets. 6th Day provides this outreach through two unique programs:

Ticket Donations: 6th Day Dance donates a percentage of tickets to our arts programming to individuals who would otherwise not be able to view the arts. For each show 6th Day partners with organizations who provide services to our target outreach population. These partnerships allow 6th Day to reach new audience members who do not have access to the arts and thus brings a unique and diverse audience together to view emerging art.

Arts Participation: 6th Day Dance provides dance classes and mentoring to at risk youth and individuals with disabilities thru dance class instruction in hip hop and modern dance. 6th Day is breaking ground in the arts community through creating dance classes and performance opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Past participants have been invited to perform with the company and gain a unique experience in the theater. 6th Day has partnered with multiple organizations to bring these opportunities to our community.

"Harambee Youth Hip Hop Classes" January -April 2009 This class is a 11 week FREE hip hop class taught by 6th Day Dance members April Cunningham and Amy Maranan to youth ages 12-19, beginning/immediate level. Classes held at Harambee Community Development Association in Renton. No registration necessary.
Location: Harambee Community Center316 S 3rd St, Renton WA 98057, map
Dates/Times: Wednesdays 6:30-7:30 dates January 14th thru April 1st, no class February 18th 2009
Contact info@sixthdaydance.org for more information.
Brought to the community in part by grant funding from Renton Municipal Arts Commission and 4Culture

"Sound Mental Health Dance Classes" March 2008 -ongoing- 6th Day is currently providing weekly classes to Sound Mental Health clients who have a developmental disability and are dually diagnosed with a mental health issue. Classes take place once a week at Sound Mental Health. We provide an environment that is fun and expressive, while incorporating movement therapy techniques into the milieu. Dance Movement Therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement for emotional, cognitive, social, behavioral and physical conditions and can greatly impact our self image and help define our place in the world. Each class teaches modern movement technique that focuses on the aesthetic or artistic appearance of the movement. Additionally, dance therapy explores the nature of all movement and allows each class member to internally work on procedural memory chaining, self esteem, self image, relationship building, and exploration of the world around them through movement. Within this environment, individuals learn to express themselves through movement and dance, that which cannot be put into words.

Our goal with this outreach project is to eventually develop a performance piece to be showcased in our 2008-2009 season. With only a handful of dance companies in the world that incorporate people with disabilities with non-disabled dancers, a piece using dancers exclusively with a developmental disability and mental health issues will be truly groundbreaking.

"Harambee Youth Hip Hop Classes" May-June, and October 2008 This class was a 10 week FREE hip hop class taught by 6th Day Dance members April Cunningham and Amy Maranan to youth at Harambee Community Development Association in Renton.

"Burden" May 2008- Through smArt grant funding from the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, 6th Day Dance will be donating complimentary tickets to individuals with developmental and physical disabilities to 6th Days Annual Spring Dance Concert "Burden", May 17th, 2008. 15 tickets will be donated to individuals who receive services at Sound Mental Health of Seattle, an organization committed to improve the lives of their clients by delivering excellent health and human services. In addition, 6th Day will donate 15 tickets to Very Special Arts of Washington, a non profit dedicated to providing arts opportunities by, for and with persons with disabilities throughout the state of Washington.

"Glass House Project" May 2007- "Glass Houses" is a four part work exploring and exposing the issues surrounding disabilities, and was inspired by a true life story of one man with a developmental disability and mental health diagnosis and his struggle with living in the community. Work featured dancers who were both disabled and non disabled, and incorporated a gentleman with spastic dysplasia who uses a wheelchair and another gentleman with a developmental disability. In an effort to impact the community with this message about disabilities, 6th Day took it one step further to outreach to those individuals with disabilities. Thru funding from ABC Missions, Individual Donors and 6th Day, 6th Day Dance donated complimentary tickets to developmentally and physically disabled individuals from the ARC of King County, Service Alternatives Inc, Eagles Wings Ministries, Life Ministries, and New Horizons. These organizations serve individuals with disabilities via housing support, personal care taking, arts training, family and individual support. Each organization received 20 complimentary tickets.

"Love is in the Air" February 2007- Thru funding from the City of Seattle Mayors Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, 6th Day Dance donated 15 tickets to Pike Place Market Senior Center. Pike Place Senior Center serves low income and homeless seniors living in the downtown district. In addition, 6th Day Dance taught 4 free hip hop classes to homeless youth who utilize New Horizons Drop-In Center in Seattle. New Horizons focuses on providing resources and spiritual support to homeless youth in Seattle. 15 youth attended class and were given complimentary tickets to "Love is in the Air".

"Project Dance New York City" April 2006- 6th Day Dance participated in Project Dance New York, which brings live professional dance performances to the public of New York City in a 2 day weekend event. Free performances take place on an outdoor stage located on Broadway in the heart of the city. The mission of Project Dance is to communicate a message of hope and healing through the language of dance.

"Project Warehouse" March 2006- Thru grant funding from the City of Redmond, 6th Day in partnership with Outdoor Adventures provided a free 6 week hip hop dance class to at risk youth of the City of Redmond. 6th Day Company Members taught basic hip hop skills and encouraged students to explore their own freestyle movements. 20 students attended