MISSION
Our mission is to give people the opportunity to explore themselves and interact with others in an environment that encourages everyone to play and be free.
OBJECTIVES
Inspire individuals to have fun and feel the excitement of dance free of their inhibitions
- Get people out of their head, in their body, and realize dance occurs as a free-flowing action not as a technique
- Encourage dancers to experiment with human interaction in positive, playful, and creative ways
Build a community passionate about bringing the wisdom of dance into their everyday life experiences
HISTORY
In 2001, we discovered Dance Labs in a workshop called The Freedom to Ask1. A student shared how others laughed at his dancing and we coached him through a series of exercises around self-expression. A week later he showed up jumping for joy celebrating he could dance freely amongst 200 people! In 2002, Ted Ko, took on producing a set of 2-3 hr workshops in the San Francisco bay area. In 2003, Chinarut Ruangchotvit brought Dance Labs to Thailand and by 2006, Dance Chalat2 was founded as a community development program for kids. We continue to coordinate our efforts from Los Angeles.
WHAT WE PROVIDE
We have conducted proof-of-concepts working with children, men, women, couples, schools, and businesses in various settings including martial arts and yoga studios, conference rooms, retreats, and parks. We are confident our work is accessible to people of all walks of life. Our work is released under a creative commons license allowing anyone to design and run their own experiments to help expand our community.
WHAT WE NEED
We seek a sponsor to support us in sustaining our efforts. We are a volunteer-driven community that continues to derive satisfaction and accomplishment in everything we share. We invite partners, volunteers, and management expertise to assist us in achieving our fundraising goals.
OUR FUTURE
A global community committed to facilitating, inventing, and sharing what's possible with dance all over the world!
1Designed by Naomi Colb, the purpose of The Freedom to Ask workshop is to awaken from the dream of limitation. Participants discover their natural curiosity and freedom to explore and co-create the moments of life with others.
2"Chalat" (ฉลาด) means smart in Thai - by this we mean being creative, intelligent dancers as a child's access to life!