At Dance Exchange, we are a community of artists uniquely positioned to cultivate creative opportunities across generations, cultural experiences, and disciplines to help shape a just and life-giving future in the face of the climate crisis. Activated by the urgency of the times, we are committed to institutional change while expanding partnerships locally, regionally, and internationally. This deepened commitment is setting in motion Dance Exchange’s Climate Initiative.
Dance Exchange recognizes that Black communities, Indigenous communities and communities of people who have been historically marginalized continue to be disproportionately affected by the climate crises globally. In light of these truths, Dance Exchange’s Climate Initiative includes a strengthening and increase of our commitments to racial justice and community healing both internally, and through our partnerships and program activities.
Dance Exchange Climate Initiative
Dance Exchange’s multi-year Climate Initiative aims to:
Further develop community-based performance projects that energize and engage with current and emerging climate solutions through equity-centered creative practice and inquiry.
Develop Dance Exchange’s Community and Creative Hub in Takoma Park, as well as our in-person and online classes, programs, and residencies, as models of sustainable, equitable, and regenerative practices.
Deepen our local, regional, and international partnerships and collaborations to expand cultural diversity and access to climate education and engagement.
Featured Climate Initiative Performance Projects
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How to Lose a Mountain
How to Lose a Mountain was an innovative project that explored the environmental and social impacts of climate change by looking at the sources of power in our modern homes and the many intersecting communities affected by our ongoing reliance on fossil fuels. The commissioned stage production was part of a multi-year choreographic project in which Cassie Meador, now Dance Exchange Executive Artistic Director, walked from Washington, D.C. to a site of mountaintop removal in West Virginia.
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WaterLines: RiverBank
In WaterLines: RiverBank, Cassie Meador was invited to collaborate with architect/artist Ronit Eisenbach. The project brought together artists and community members to engage multidisciplinary creative placemaking strategies along the Chester River, including spatial transformation, dancemaking, and public dialogue. In a community grappling with climate change, economic inequality, and racial disparities, the project created a sense of possibility, sparked imagination, and catalyzed public engagement.
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Remembering Water's Way
Remembering Water’s Way was an outdoor performance tour originally staged at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Pennsylvania. Through dance performance, audience engagement, and environmental art installation, the work invites reflection on how we respond to a changing planet and reminds us that collective action can move us in directions that offer resilience and strength to ourselves, each other, and our communities.
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Future Fields
Future Fields is a performance project cultivating community, courage, and solutions for the climate crisis. Through dancemaking and community engagement, the project will yield new ways for personal and local experiences to be woven into the larger stories of how climate change is impacting our lives, the food we grow and eat, and our shared world.
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Moving Field Guide
Dance Exchange’s Moving Field Guide (MFG) is an outdoor experience that integrates movement, storytelling, sensory and observation experiences, and environmental literacy to give people across generations the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of—and connection to—the natural world.