Director: Cedric Gardner
http://www.boysgirlsclubs.org/dance/
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee Davis Dancers is a dance program that originated in 2014 housed at Don & Sallie Davis Boys & Girls Club. Through previous funding from Wallace Foundation, a Professional Practicing Teaching Artist was hired to provide High-Quality Arts programming. Currently, Davis Dancers serves over 300 students a year. The goal is to increase this number by 10% each season.
The holistic program delivers the following outcomes; enhances performance skills, incorporates Social Emotional Learning competencies, builds student leadership, and forges a pathway for the future.
The vision for the program is to cultivate conscious artist who uses dance as a medium to express himself or herself. Davis Dance Studio builds a safe space where Club Members discover their movement language during Open Studio. They also build their skill through traditional dance techniques Contemporary, Jazz, Hip Hop, African, and Salsa. Davis Dancers are also exposed to other genres of Art such as Theatre, Music, and Visual Art to enhance their performance skills and enhance their imagination.
Participants perform a minimum of 20 times per year. Rehearsals are approximately 5 hours a week and increase leading up to performances. Academic Success is a criterion to being part of the traveling team. All participants are required to submit report cards. Twice a year members attend a college tour to begin thinking about furthering their education. The traveling team travels to regional and national competitions. Members are also exposed to TV and Film Industry. Our partners include Monsters Dance Convention, Old Navy; i am Other (Pharrell Williams).
The Davis Club’s dance team is led by, Ceric Gardner, whose many credits include Fox’s Empire, as a finalist on So You Think You Can Dance and NBC’s The Voice…
