Friday Nights, July 10th through September 4,2020 7:00-8:00 PM
By: Victoria Stevens
Hollywood, CA (The Hollywood Times) 07/07/2020 — What does your summer look like during this COVID epidemic? Are you tired of doing the same activities over and over? Are you looking for something new to spice up your life? The Music Center in Los Angles has just announced that it is moving its 16th annual Dance DTLA summer series to an online format. The best part is it is free to all participates who would like to learn some new dance forms while stuck at home.
The Music Center, one of the largest and most respected performing arts centers in the nation, created Dance DTLA to engage with the community of Los Angeles as well as bring music and dance front and center within that community.
“Considering that this program has been apart of the Los Angeles community for the last 15 years, we were really excited to bring the program back and I think it was really important to keep it alive,” said Project Manager Lucy Zepeda.
As COVID continues to affect the reopening of businesses, The Music Center has strategically put together a well thought out dance program for everyone to enjoy throughout the month of July without ever having to leave their home.
“Over the years, this program had really grown and we had from 1,000 to 2,000 people on any given night come together to enjoy food and art making,” explained Zepeda. “Although this year the sweet 16 of DTLA is very trimmed down, we really believe that the arts are a critical part of our lives and dancing is relevant and continues to be vital in this challenging time.”
When you tune in this year, each participate will get a chance to experience a 45-minute workout which will include a warmup, choreography, and a cool down. Each dance class will be geared towards beginners but are open to all dance levels.
“We programmed these lessons so that anyone could participate so they are more on a beginner level,” stated Zepeda. “When we were live, we had both beginner and intermediate levels but this year our program is Dance DTLA on a diet. However, the heart of the lesson is still there and folks will at least get that piece of it.”
There will be a variety of popular dance genres which will be taught every Friday night starting on July 10th.
“This year we really put out genres that were crowd favorites from Dance DTLA past participates. There will be different lessons every Friday night from Bollywood, Hip Hop, Line Dance, Cumbia, K-Pop, Salsa, Motown, Argentine Tango, and Samba. Now everyone can come together with their families and tune into a lesson and enjoy the experience of DTLA,” said Zepeda.
The Music Center has collaborated with many professional dance instructors over the years and this year is no different.
“Many of our instructors have been participating for many years with the program. They all have their various skill levels that they bring to each class. Some instructors belong to dance companies while others have their own dance companies in Los Angeles. For example, Achinta S. McDaniel, who teaches our Bollywood class, is the founder of Blue13 Dance Company.
Brandon Juezan, who teaches Hip Hip, is the project manager of Versa-Style,” explained Zepeda.
As participates tune in every Friday night on the Music Center Offstage page, there will be important information on the instructor as well as their company.
“Our wonderful marketing team has created an event page for each Friday night. On that page, participates will find information not only on the instructor but also on their studio or dance company that they are partnered with,” said Zepeda. “Folks will be able to reach out directly to them or find more information via their website from that page.”
Dance DTLA is a stamp of the Music Center on the community and will continue to be so this year.
“This program is very close to my heart and the teachers have put a lot of thought and effort into it. Our team as well really wanted this program to reflect the times. The instructors are teaching their lessons from their homes, so the participates are going to get insight into the lives of each instructor. We want to bring something to the community that’s real and still stick to safer at home guidelines right now. COVID cases are still going up and we need to continue to be cautious and protect each other,” expressed Zepeda.
Photo Credit: The Music Center, Sabrina Skacan
For more information: Visit musiccenter.org/dancedtla for details
