Our vision for the future has more artistic voices, flourishing dance spaces, and a supportive and vibrant dance community. We work towards that vision by supporting the entire ecosystem of dance.
Dance Wire’s mission is to enhance the prosperity and visibility of dance in Portland while inspiring more people to get involved.
Dance Wire’s Mission Pillars
Prosperity
We don’t believe in the glorification of the starving artist. All our prosperity programs help dance organizations and artists thrive, not just survive. For example: our on-demand 1:1 Sessions focus on organizational stability and growth for dance organizations and independent artists.
Visibility
Visibility is the one thing that every business needs to thrive. We provide a centralized network for the whole ecosystem of dance, which serves to connect and strengthen it. Our Calendar and Find a Studio Directory give all organizations, from the emerging to the culturally specific to the established, the same level of visibility regardless of their budget size.
Inspiration
One concept that drives all of our work is that dance offers something for everyone. You don’t have to be pursuing dance as a career to get involved. Through effective collaboration and mutually beneficial partnerships, our goal is to dramatically increase the number of people involved in dance as artists, students, patrons, donors, business sponsors, and champions.
Early in my years working on Dance Wire, I spoke with someone who said “You will always have a small audience with dance. There’s just a finite number of people who will be interested.”
I disagree.
Dance Wire envisions a future where existing perceptions around who can dance are dissolved, and the potential number of people who may be interested has no limit. Layers of cultural perceptions have left many people feeling excluded, but we believe that you don’t need to be trained as a professional to reap the benefits of dancing.
Dance Wire strives for a world where there is no such thing as too fat, too old, too tall, too poor, too inflexible, too shy, or too uncoordinated to dance. Dance is for everyone.
Happy dancing,
Emily Running – Founder