“Let Them: BLOOM.”
SAN DIEGO, CA – February 29, 2024 – On April 5 and 6, transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project presents Let Them: BLOOM, a dance theatre production. The annual culminating event for transcenDANCE’s flagship CREATE Program, Let Them: Bloom brings forward themes around identity and voice, dignity and human rights, civic engagement, and activism. A cast of 70 young performers, ages 9 – 19 years, have collaborated with professional artists to co-create this original work.
A nationally recognized nonprofit Creative Youth Development organization, transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project has been working with students in San Diego for more than 18 years. transcenDANCE provides young people with tools for their health and well-being that allow them to bounce back from difficult situations and cultivate resilience. Because we work in under-resourced communities and partner with Title 1 schools, we are connecting with the youth and providing equitable access to those who need our programs and services the most.
PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Title: Let Them: BLOOM
Description: This work, to sprout emerging voices that lead, inspire, direct, shift, and agitate to success…how do we make sure this energy births agents of change?! We let them, BLOOM! Youth voices bloom as they shape and share their values and narratives about themselves and the world around them through dance, poetry, live music, visual art, and film.
Location: Hoover High School Performing Arts Center: 4474 El Cajon Boulevard San Diego, CA 92115
Dates/Times: Friday, April 5 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, April 6 at 7:30 PM
Tickets can be purchased at https://bit.ly/tdarts-bloom
transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project
Our mission at transcenDANCE is to provide equitable access to dance and performance, and holistic wraparound services, for young people from marginalized communities. We support youth as they transcend barriers, recognize their own potential and power, and create positive change for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Founded in 2005 as a youth-driven organization, transcenDANCE arose out of youth- identified needs in the community, including access to youth-tailored creative spaces, mentoring, and leadership development. We are committed to building trust and ongoing
relationships with our students, families, artists/cultural practitioners, and to centering community voice in our work.
As a Creative Youth Development organization, we believe access to the arts is critical to helping youth embrace a positive self-image, be civically engaged, and inspire change and collective action in our community. Our programs provide an outlet for self-expression and promote creative problem solving as an alternative to violence. We offer transformative arts programming for youth who experience multiple adversities such as poverty, domestic and community violence, and mental and physical health issues, which stem from a legacy of deep racial inequities. Our students build confidence and strength to self-regulate emotions, vital to lifelong well-being.
Young people who participate in Creative Youth Development programs like transcenDANCE are more likely to have a sense of purpose, be physically healthy, be socially conscious, to volunteer, and to have better attendance and higher grades in school. They are less likely to experience depression or to engage in acts of violence toward others. (Adolescent Thriving: The Roles of Sparks, Relationships, and Empowerment, Scales, Benson, and Roehlkespartain, 2010.)
