ORIGINATION CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

OrigiNation's Performing Arts Academy offers classes for youth ages 3+. Classes include Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, African and Tae Kwon Do.  We have just added Inferno Hot Pilates open classes for adults!  The Performing Arts Academy runs from September to May. Registration is now closed and will reopen on March 1st for the 2024-2025 season.

The Professional Dance Division (PDD) consists of four companies: Aleye (Boys ages 9-13), IMANI Jr., (girls ages 7-13), Girlz of IMANI (girls ages 14 –16) and NIA Dance Troupe (girls and boys ages 16-18).  The program serves between 60-65 young people annually.  To ensure that they receive sufficient training company members are simultaneously enrolled in our Performance Arts Program.  Auditions are held annually in March.

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OrigiNation's Spring Dance Intensive provides young dancers of all levels with an opportunity to learn and/or strengthen their dance technique, condition their bodies, and improve their performance quality in a nurturing and fun environment. Classes are taught by highly trained instructors who have also performed professionally and continue to improve their craft through regular study. This allows us to bring the most cutting edge techniques and latest innovations in dance to our students! Due to the small class sizes, space is limited.

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Bring OrigiNation to your community!

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The Community Outreach and Education Program is designed to give the OrigiNation experience to youth who are not able to participate in our regular programming. Our faculty has over 30 years of combined performance and program management experience including facilitating workshops in dance, theatre, conflict resolution, mediation, and Tae Kwon Do for children of all ages and ethnicities. Through this program, our staff travel to youth programs; community-based organizations, professional associations, and other organizations throughout the United States and abroad. These programs include mini-classes for students, performances by members of our youth companies, and "Q&A" sessions during which participating students engage in a dialogue with the instructors and performers. For inquiries about scheduling a lecture-demonstration for your school or group; or if you need assistance with choreography or program production, please email info@originationinc.org.

The Youth Empowerment Tour is a cultural exchange program for students in our Professional Dance Division. The primary goals of the tour are to (1) raise our students' awareness and exposure to aspects of cultures with which they may not be familiar with and (2) provide students in the countries we visit with an opportunity to learn more about African-American culture and discover their own artistic talents in the areas of dance, theater, and spoken word. Through this program, our senior staff and senior PDD members conduct lecture demonstrations in the visiting countries incorporating various dance styles including modern, African, Hip Hop and Jazz.   We also include workshops about self-esteem, civic responsibility, and the importance of tapping into one's inner strength to navigate through challenging times.  To date, OrigiNation has travelled to England, France, Senegal, Ghana, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica.

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ReadySetDance! is a five-week program that aims to provide high-quality dance instruction and performance opportunities to youth ages 8-13.  The program is open to beginner, intermediate, and advanced young dancers who have expressed an interest in further developing or discovering their technical and performance skills.  Each dancer will receive 112.5 hours of instruction and will receive free dance attire and costumes for the culminating performance.  All youth who meet our age requirements are invited to register for the program.