Why Dance Matters: 45 Years, 45 Voices

Hear from Cassie and Board Chair Erica Bondarev Rapach on why dance—and your support—matters at Dance Exchange.

Over Dance Exchange's 45 year history, we've been guided by our belief that dance matters. It matters in ways that are deeply personal and urgently global. It matters as we navigate challenges within our communities and as we experience joy, wonder, and gratitude. That's why, as we bring this milestone year to a close, we're inviting you to make a donation to Dance Exchange in celebration of the reasons dance matters to you.


45 Voices on Why Dance Matters

Number 1. Life is filled with joy, celebration, tragedy, sorrow—all of the emotions that our bodies ache to express so we are called to dance. Quote from Silvia Roberts, DX Managing Director
Number 4. Dance matters because our bodies have a language that our brains and mouths can't hold. And that language needs to be spoken. Quote from Nik Zaleski, Co-Director of A body, home
Number 7. It's like a second language. When words fail us, dance gives us a way to express or joys and sorrows in a universal language. Quote from Judith Bauer, DX Partnering Artist and member of the Dance On Creative Aging Advisory Board
Number 10. Dance matters because it brings us back to what is essential. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 2. Dance matters when we use it to challenge power. Quote from a 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Numbe5 Dance matters because it can tell a true story without moving in a straight line, because it can mean everything but need not mean anything, because it brings us to our senses without always making sense. John Borstel, former DX staff member
Number 8. How we move, together and singly, matters. Quote from Martha Wittman, DX Partnering Artist and Dance On Commissioned Artist
Number 11. Dance matters because life is a dance. Quote from Bikem Öztürk, longtime class participant and 2020-21 Dance On OAC Cohort member
Number 3. Dance matters because its fun, it's social, it's creative, it's lively, it's healthy!!! Quote from Leslie Sapp, 2021-22 Dance On OAC Cohort Member
Number 6. Dance matters because the relationship between stillness and motion can transform us.  Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 9. Dance matters because movement is life.  Quote from Renee Weitzner, DX donor
#12 Dance matters because it's a way for people to express themselves when words fail. - Atiah Can Öztürk, longtime class participant
Number 13. It helps the body feel like a joyful home. Quote from Corina Iona Dalzell, Resident Artist and Community and Creative Hub Manager
Number 14. Dance matters because it is how we celebrate and mark beginnings and endings  Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 15. Dance matters because movement brings light and love into the world. Quote from Eleanor Kerlow, DX Board Member
Number 16. Dance matters because the relationship between stillness and motion can transform us. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 17. It is a way to express feelings, heart and meaning that goes beyond verbal language. Dance brings communities together to share hopes, dreams and joys. Quote from Nancy Havlik, DX Partnering Artist and Dance On Commissioned Artist
Number 18. Dance matters because it is seriously fun. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 19. Dance matters because it endures. Dance gives a lifeline to move through whatever you’ve got going on in your world. Quote from Emily Theys, DX Development Director
Number 20. Dance is a language anyone can access, fluent or not. Quote from Mark H Rooney, DX partner and Community and Creative Hub member
Number 21. Dance matters because it helps us find our true homes. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 22. Dance matters for the evocation of one's roots, soul, strength of spirit. It matters for the ways we create, we offer, embrace community, feel aligned. Quote from Christine King, DX Partnering Artist
Number 23. It connects us. Dance matters because life matters and we are dancing every day we live. Quote from Thomas Tyger Moore, DX Partnering Artist and Dance On Commissioned Artist
Number 24. Dance matters because it can make us feel vulnerable. It can make us feel confident. It can make us feel celebrated, inspired, exhilarated. Quote from Jessica Sloane, Community and Creative Hub member
Number 25. Dance matters because I say it matters. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 26. Dance matters because it helps students and adults focus. It helps with creativity and discipline. Quote from Luisa Aviles, Outdoor Educator and Moving Field Guide partnering artist
Number 27. As a body-based art form, the information that can be communicated via dance can sometimes be more meaningful than via verbal communication. Quote from Stephen Clapp, DX Creative Producer
#28. Dance matters because it offers another way to capture ideas and observations. It allows for both the internalization and sharing of information. Jhanna Levin, Environmental Literacy Outreach Teacher at Prince George's County Public Schools
Number 29. It allows us to access ideas and feelings sometimes unreachable by other means. Quote from Nelesi Rodríguez, 2021-22 Dance On OAC Cohort Member
Number 30. Dance can express what words cannot. Dance puts feeling into motion. Dance allows our bodies to communicate beyond what we can articulate. Quote from Marlo Castillo Arts Integration Resource Teacher at Prince George's County Public Schools
Number 33. Dance matters because it questions and answers. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 31. Dance matters because it helps us understand. It helps us know what we don't, or can't, understand. It reveals gaps in knowledge, cultivates curiosity, and ignites inquiry. Quote from Elizabeth Johnson Levine DX Associate Artistic Director
Number 34. Dance matters because the body speaks truth, the body tells stories often unheard or untold, the body is a vessel of change and power. Quote from Vincent Thomas, DX Partnering Artist and Dance On Commissioned Artist
Number 32. Dance matters because it is an ancient practice for our species. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 35. Dance matters because it moves us to notice the connections between us and all that we share on this planet. Quote from Cassie Meador, DX Executive Artistic Director
#36 Dance matters because it can ground you. Dance matters because it can uplift you. Dance matters because it moves not only your body, but your heart. Dance matters because it has the power to shift the soul. Erica Bondarev Rapach, DX Board Chair
Number 37. Dance matters because the whole world is in motion. Join in and become a part of the whirling joy, chaos, and beauty. Quote from Liz Lerman, DX Founder
Number 40. Dance matters because my ancestors were here and my descendants will come. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 43. Dance made me question the path I was on and changed the arc of my career and my life. Quote from Elliot Rosen, DX Board Chair Emeritus
Number 38. Dance matters because I matter. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 41. Dance matters because it is an act of resistance. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
Number 44. Dance matters because it's the heart's beat, it's first movement we ever did in the womb. Dance is a human action where "no detail is too small to notice." Quote from Kevin Ormsby, longtime DX collaborator
Number 39. Dance matters because our bodies are the means and the ends. They are the creators, translators, and performers of our justice work. Quote from Amanda Newman, DX Communications Director
#42 Because we experience the beauty of being with others in a generous and authentic way, without words but with our body. It transcends the barriers of language, ages, body types and origins. Juliana Pongutá Forero, Dance On Commissioned Artist
Number 45. Dance matters because it's personal, it's universal. Quote from 2021 OAC Summer Institute participant
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