Dance Outreach

Interactive Dance Programs

Benita Bike's DanceArt is well-known for its dance outreach programs called "Double Takes." For over 30 years, the company has been reaching out to people of all ages and sharing dance through these interactive dance performances.

After a short talk on modern dance and the art of making dances, two or three dances are performed. A discussion follows, where audience members talk with the artists, giving their impressions and asking questions about the dances they've just seen. Sometimes one of the dances or a portion of a dance is performed a second time, giving the audience its "double take." Our intention is to provide information about dance viewing and dance making in order to awaken people to the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual value of dance. These dance programs have proven themselves to be very effective in showing audiences how to look at both dance and art in general.

Benita Bike's DanceArt has presented these dance outreach programs at a number of venues including El Camino College, Brand Library & Art Center, Long Beach City College, Whittier College, Angels Gate Cultural Center, Oldham County Schools Arts Center, Culver City Senior Center, Culver City Veterans Memorial Auditorium, YWCA Cambridge, Los Angeles Mission College, the Madrid Theatre, YWCA Boston, City of Lexington Town Hall, Jamaica Plains Art Center, McGroarty Art Center, Sunland Senior Center, Lake View Terrace Library, and La Crescenta Library.

Students watch Tiffany perform in the Oldham County Schools outside of Louisville, KY. (Photo by Michael Clevenger, The Courier-Journal)

Benita discusses dances with the audience at the Brand Library and Arts Center, Glendale.

Tiffany, Kim (sitting), and Teya perform "Dances in White" at Brand Library.

DanceArt giving an educational presentation at McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga

A Double Take at Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar