African Dance Class Fundraiser for Project in Kenya: Sunday, Nov 17th 7-8pm

Taught by Chasity Malatesta & Inez Jones

Suggested Donation $20 - feel free to donate what you are able

Organized by BDC Student Aria Henderson

In 2019, my family and I visited Kenya and met Simat, a local tour guide at a traditional experience stay, in the Maasai Mara. We stayed in contact and he quickly became a good family friend. Simat reached out about a year ago to inform us of some of the problems his community are having and asked for our help. His village has been struggling since COVID-19. While tourism has returned, many jobs have not, leaving the community in need. But Simat has a plan! He dreams of  building a mechanics garage to support local job creation and provide internships for youth, who often have limited opportunity. This would be a community run business that would help create stable, long lasting support and employment. He already has the building and his community’s support, all he needs now are the supplies and tools to get started. That’s where we come in! We’ve been in contact with him for a while and are so exited to take action and raise the necessary funds with the help of BDC! Your support is greatly appreciated in any way and we are so exited to share this dream with you. -Aria Henderson (BDC and Bainbridge High School student)

Holidays & Performance Dates

Oct 31 Halloween

Nov 11 Veterans Day

Nov 27-Dec 1 Thanksgiving

Dec 5-7 BDC Nutcracker Performances

Dec 22-Jan 4 Winter Break

Jan 20 Martin Luther King Day

Feb 16-22 Mid-Winter Break

Apr 6-12 Spring Break

May 26 Memorial Day

Jun 14 Last Day of Classes

Jun 15-22 BDC 44th Annual Student Performances

BDC: 100% Green Energy

BDC is proud to be apart of Puget Sound Energy’s Green Power program. All of our energy comes from renewable sources. From 2020 to 2021, BDC’s electricity carbon footprint was reduced by 10,574 pounds of CO2. To put that into perspective, that’s enough renewable energy to power 1,008,250 smartphones!

Race and Social Justice at BDC

I received fantastic suggestions from you all on how we can work together as a community to make BDC actively anti-racist. I hope that this is an ongoing conversation that helps us permanently shape our programs and actions as a school. Here are some resources BDC parents and community members shared. Please feel free to reach out to me with your thoughts and ideas.

• Anti-Racism Resource Page

• Resources for Talking To Students About Race and Social Injustice
  
  Recommended Books at Eagle Harbor
  White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
  How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi 
  Stamped (for teens) by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
  Stamped from the Beginning (for adults) by Ibram X. Kendi
  So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

  Recommended Dance Films:

• Northwest Tap Connection: "Hell You Talmbout” By Shakiah Danielson. Northwest Tap Connection is a Race & Social Justice oriented studio connecting dance across communities. In 2016, hip-hop teacher Shakiah Danielson and NWTC responded to the deaths of unarmed black lives at the hands of police officers, using dance as passionate protest in a call to say their names, see their names, and feel their names. DONATE TO SUPPORT NWTC

• "Cooped" by Jamar Roberts (dancer and choreographer in residence for the Alvin Ailey Company.) This work was inspired by the disproportionate amount of black and brown bodies being affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

Mental Health Resources

BDC Faculty Member Christina Kemp has put together a list of Mental Health Resources: therapy services as well as domestic violence, suicide, crisis, substance abuse, and grief resources. She also created a helpful guide for the trials of the current situation: Caring for ourselves and loved ones in a time of upheaval.

Bainbridge Island Psychotherapy Guild Website is a list of local therapists here on the island. A lot of therapists don’t use Psychology Today, so our local group’s website is a fantastic resource.

Bainbridge Youth Services is a non-profit on Bainbridge that is dedicated to the emotional well-being of youth. They provide professional counseling for youth 13-21, peer tutoring for grades K-12, and other service programs mostly for teens. Everything BYS offers is free to youth.

Join the BDC Mailing List and stay up-to-date on news and events.

Bainbridge Dance Center

Mail: PO Box 10338

Location: 844 Madison Avenue North

Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Email: mail@bainbridgedancecenter.com

Call: (206) 842-1497