Danceversity World Dance is a youth education program in the San Francisco Bay Area offering weekly classes, school programs, workshops, performances, and a comprehensive summer day camp. Our goal is to enrich development through providing opportunities to gain a wider perspective in dance and cultural studies. Aiming to increase appreciation of global cultures and support community cohesion in the culturally diverse Bay Area, we engage dance as a platform with which to explore how members of various cultural groups relate to one another and their surroundings.

Through movement exploration participants acquire valuable insight regarding the expression of diverse values; including the role of music and dance, traditions regarding social and religious ritual, and the context of personal expression. How a dancer moves through space is informed by his or her environment and speaks of one's relationship to body and spirit as well as to the community, the natural world, and concepts of the Divine. This organic, felt level of understanding is elaborated upon through discussion, video resources, performance, and student-led research.

In an era of globalization it is vital we provide youths with the means of developing cross-cultural compassion. One of the strongest elements of the Danceversity program is its inclusion of diverse forms of the greater Middle East, allowing young people an alternative, personal experience that honors the complexities and differences amongst cultural groups who are often too narrowly defined. But rather than being limited to any particular area of the world, the summer program comprises regions as diverse as Southeast Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.

For seasoned students as well as those new to dance, the breadth presented in the summer program provides an inspiring introduction to the world of dance, allowing the unique opportunity to discover forms that are rarely represented in traditional programs. Danceversity World Dance thus serves as an important resource for emerging dancers while providing appealing physical fitness alternatives to young people.

What is perhaps most important to participants is the satisfaction and joy gained through exploring dance in all its forms; and Danceversity is committed to providing quality instruction in a learning environment that fosters personal growth, creativity, and cooperation. Our foremost goal is to inspire young people to continually expand their experiences in dance and other areas of life and approach them with confidence and a sense of curiosity, appreciation, and delight.