Backhausdance is committed to educating the community about the relevance and vitality of concert dance, both as valuable art form and as a tool for learning. The company is dedicated to the creation, development, awareness and understanding of the art of contemporary dance. Dance is more than just steps or movement - its creation and perfection engages all learning modalities and encourages the integration of the mind, body and soul of the dancer. The company’s education programs reach students of all ages through our annual summer intensive, residency programs, master classes and more. 

Our education team is HIRING! Are you interested in being a teaching artist for Backhausdance? Click Here to learn more!

Dance is good for your health at any age. Creative movement and expression have the power to heal, to help people recover from trauma, express emotions nonverbally, improve cognitive decline and communication, bring joy and laughter. BD aims to bring the joy and benefits of dance into the community around us, and participants are invited to explore and express their creativity and unlock hidden talents in our multifaceted programs for learners at all levels and of all generations.

For information on booking, please contact:
Nancy Warzer-Brady
Education & Community Engagement Director
nancy@backhausdance.org

The Dance for Kindness Project

youth athletics/physical education program

The Dance for Kindness (DFK) Project, funded by the City of Santa Ana’s Revive Santa Ana youth program in 2022-2023, is an innovative, athletic/physical education and dance education partnership with Carver and Adams Elementary Schools, Santa Ana Unified School District, reaching approximately 900 students of all abilities, teachers, aides, staff and parents on each school campus. The Dance for Kindness Project responds directly to the public health emergency and negative economic impacts of COVID-19, specifically linked to the American Rescue Plan Act funding in Economic Category 2.25: Addressing Educational Disparities: Academic, Social, and Emotional Services, reaching disproportionately impacted youth. 

Program components include:

• advance planning with the principals and teachers at each school

• pre-and mid-point assessment and final qualitative and quantitative teacher evaluation

• Teacher Workshops for the entire school staff led by Backhausdanc teaching artists (1 at each school)

• a six-part, structured, interactive workshop series for every class taught by Backhausdance teaching artists (total 180 workshops)

• Dance for Kindness interactive assemblies performed by Backhausdance professional company members where all students have an opportunity to participate ask questions directly to the dancers (2 assemblies at each school, total 4)

Dance for Kindness workshops provide rigorous and adaptive skill-based athletic and creative movement centered around themes of trust and character building, gaining self-confidence, empathy, anti-bullying, non-verbal and verbal communication, teamwork, putting forth your best effort, and being responsible and respectful, aligning with the foundations of youth development. The workshop series is designed to introduce students to contemporary dance in a safe and fun environment to expand students’ athletic potential and coordination/motor skills while instilling healthy and positive ways to express emotions and expand capacity for socialization and resiliency. Dance for Kindness assemblies for the entire school demonstrate the joy and art of contemporary dance, athleticism, physicality, emotional expression and the human connection.  

More than ever, dance, athletics, physical education and creativity are essential for youth who have been marginalized and impacted by the ongoing heartbreaking effects of loss, social and physical isolation of the global pandemic. Physical education/athletics and dance are not offered consistently and equitably in Santa Ana schools, and all students need access to stimulating kinesthetic-based programs that engage their bodies, imaginations, and minds, Dance for Kindness has been designed to connect with California Department of Education Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) concepts, curriculum standards in Dance, Physical Education, STEAM, English/Language Arts, CTE, PBIS and more. 

Ballet and Creative Dance Classes for Youth

Through a partnership with the City of Santa Ana, Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency, Backhausdance’s beloved dancer and teaching artist Chihiro Sano presents classes for ages 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, open to students in Santa Ana and the entire community. In a structured and fun class series, students will learn basic ballet terminology and technique by experiencing the joy of movement, building confidence, coordination, and locomotor skills while expressing themselves through dance. Classes are offered on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Required registration through City of Santa Ana:

Monthly registration fee: $30.00

Workshop: The Joy of Backhausdance 

Multigenerational and seniors

• Location- senior centers or community organizations

• Possible Formats - introductory class session, workshop series, and/or artist residency

Experience the joy of moving in this 75-minute introductory class session. Everyone has the potential to dance! The class – which will include elements of modern, ballet, and creative movement – can be done seated in a chair, holding onto a chair, or standing freely, and will enhance participants’ balance, cognition, motor skills, and overall happiness. Dance is good for your brain!

Dance for Everybody! 

Multigenerational

• Location- organization or community sites

Participants of all ages will enjoy activities exploring balance through basic modern dance movement. The 45-75 minute workshop experience includes a lecture/demonstration providing insight into the craft of choreography by artistic director Jennifer Backhaus and company dancers and/or a performance with everyone.

Dance for Parkinson’s Disease Workshops

Under development and coming soon!

The company’s education programs reach students of all ages through assemblies and performances, workshops, and residencies in schools around Southern California.

We welcome the opportunity to develop and sustain new partnerships to serve students of all ages and abilities with the joy and art of dance and creative movement in classrooms, multi-purpose rooms, in- and out-of-the-studio and in alternative spaces. The company's long-term dance education partners include Segerstrom Center for the Arts, The McCallum Theater, Orange County Department of Education, City of Santa Ana, Parks Recreation and Community Services Agency, City of Newport Beach Arts Commission, and Chapman University.

Curricular Connections

Our engaging and diverse dance education programs connect to 21st century career and readiness skills. Workshops, assemblies and residencies focus on national and State of California dance and common-core standards across the curriculum (STEAM) and English Language Arts, socio-emotional learning (SEL) and universal design for learning (UDL) choreographic principles and team-building skills which expand imagination, build character skills and communication abilities, build confidence, and health and wellness for all ages.

New! Dance for kindness assembly

In a 45-55 minute education program, Backhausdance company members perform a new work incorporating themes of acts of kindness, human connection, anti bullying, empathy and respect for each other, our families, and the world. Students participate throughout the assembly and have a kinesthetic experience, learning the meaning of kindness and how to express themselves in a positive way through movement and creativity. Students will see how different levels and movements can convey specific messages and tell a story. Question and answer session with dancers included.

New! The Planets: The Dance (Gustav Holst) 

Backhausdance performs The Planets set to Gustav Holst’s musical movement suite by the same name. With fluidity and strength, dancers traverse the musical landscapes of Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Neptune. Steeped in choreographer Jennifer Backhaus’ detailed and meticulously sculpted style and imbued with her refined yet playful sense of whimsy, The Planets brings us an elegant and seamless fusion of classical and contemporary dance that will excite young and old. The corps perform in solos, duets, trios, and full ensemble, as they explore different levels through reach, lifts, leaps, and floor work. Among the many choreographic tools employed are canon, unison, accumulation, and replacement. Jennifer Backhaus emphasizes contrasts between the different movements of Holst's dynamic work, her choreography by turns percussive and slashing or fluid and tranquil – and the dancers' bodies respond to what they hear.

Backhausdance Meets Vivaldi - A Journey Through the Four Seasons 

Originally commissioned by McCallum Theater Education for Backhausdance performs Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, written around 1723, as the dancers fluidly move through spring, summer, autumn and winter in this full-length work that juxtaposes harmony and invention. Each season has an ensemble movement for six dancers and then a movement danced by a smaller number of dancers. In Spring there will be a trio, in Summer a duet, in Fall a quartet and in Winter a solo. This assembly is rich in movement exploring positive and negative space, initiated by contact, with shapes and movement generated by weight sharing. Some parts are choreographed to closely visualize the music, whereas others offer up contrast of movement and music. The space is generously explored from high to low levels and everything in between with dancers reaching, rolling and collapsing. Students are invited to participate and ask questions after the performance.

ARTS TEACH

RESIDENCIES

Residencies are multiple session workshop series of 4 or more classes or sessions that around the themes of the residency title. These sessions highlight the basic elements of dance (body, action, space, time, energy), creativity, and choreography. For preK-12, residencies are made to integrate with the curricular concepts they’re learning in school. Residencies can be customized for adults & senior/community groups.

NEW! Dance for Kindness residency

Students of all ages and abilities focus on the art and elements of dance as creative expression, socio-emotional learning, empathy, character development and education, anti-bullying, combined with STEAM and English/Language Arts curricular connections. Includes teacher planning and evaluation sessions. Customized for each school based on specific needs and school goals for a 6-12 week period. Recommended to include school assembly.

NEW! Dance Expressions: Creativity and Choreography

Throughout a 6 to 12-week period, students will experiment with movement dynamics, explore basic locomotor skills, and increase their spatial awareness in a weekly 45-minutes hour class. Students will thrive in a safe environment while participating in the creation and performance of original dance works.

THE INCANDESCENT EXPERIENCE

Backhausdance's 72-minute work Incandescent is designed to actively engage local dancers of all levels and ages. Through a series of workshops, the Chorus members work directly with company dancers and Artistic Director Jennifer Backhaus to learn, rehearse, and ultimately, perform the dance live on stage.

Here is a highlight video of our latest installment of The Incandescent Experience featuring students from Chapman University, Irvine Valley College, Orange County School of the Arts and local Orange County and Palm Desert studios.

ARTS TEACH

Backhausdance is committed to cultivating the next generation of artists and is a strong advocate for dance as a profession and career pathway to related areas in the arts, production, education and related areas, for personal and professional development. Through master classes and our annual summer dance program, aspiring professionals can engage with internationally renowned dancers and choreographers and professionals, receive personalized attention and mentoring from Backhausdance and explore their inner voice as an artist.

MASTER CLASSES

Jennifer Backhaus’ master classes are representative of the movement style and vocabulary of Backhausdance. Ms. Backhaus’ classes are crafted to give dancers the technical ability to find balance between control and release. The combination of ballet technique and modern dance principles, including the use of weight and momentum, create a training experience designed to challenge the dancer’s dynamic expression and increase their range of movement and quality. Ms. Backhaus places strong emphasis on the use of space and moving with fluidity and abandon. Her gymnastic background enables the seamless integration of floor work and weight-shifting between feet and hands, encouraging students to feel comfortable with inversions. Class combinations occasionally include selections from the Backhausdance repertory, partner work and focus on the facilitation of the expression of the dancer’s unique points of view.

Available classes include: Backhausdance Technique, Backhausdance Repertory, Contemporary Partnering, Improvisation, Choreography, Contact Improvisation, Contemporary Barre, and more.

INTENSIVE

Want to bring Backhausdance into your school?

ARTS TEACH

BACKHAUSDANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS

For information on booking other master classes, assemblies, or residencies, or for questions on available partnerships, please contact:
Nancy Warzer-Brady
Education & Community Engagement Director
nancy@backhausdance.org

EDUCATION PARTNERS

Backhausdance's ongoing partnerships with the McCallum Theatre and Segerstrom Center for the Arts are a testament to the company's commitment to educating the community about the relevance and vitality of concert dance, as both a valuable art form and as a tool for learning. Annually, more than 3,000 students in Orange and San Bernardino counties as well as the desert schools work with Backhausdance, who exposes them to dance curriculum they would not otherwise have an opportunity to experience.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Costa Mesa, California

Backhausdance is proud to be on the Arts Teach roster as part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Education and Community Programs, and is available for booking for school assemblies, residencies and workshops. 

Please contact Arts Teach at (714) 556-2122 x4310 or visit SCFTA.ORG