summer 2015
Providing Hope and Opportunity Through Dance, Academic, and Family Programs
danceup news from The Wooden Floor
Melanie ríos glaser, artistic director
In the First Person The Quintanilla Family
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Family Connections Bonded Through Dance
“There are 10 of us kids, and five of us are here at The Wooden Floor. I was the first one to join. I can’t imagine not having the feeling dance gives me. I’m a completely different person now. I used to not be confident, not express my ideas, and I had no opportunities. There is so much The Wooden Floor gives us, like resources - everything we need. I understand being at The Wooden Floor takes a lot of time and effort, but it is so worth it in the end. I hope my brother and sisters look up to me, and like me, see it all the way to college.” –Miriam, class of 2016 “I joined The Wooden Floor because I wanted to be like my big sisters. I wanted to learn how to do really hard things. I wanted to be like they are when they are on stage.” –Rolando, class of 2023 “All my family talks about is dance, every conversation. It has helped me be more myself. I’m not afraid to talk or share ideas in school anymore. It helps with stress and makes us feel better about ourselves. Without dance we wouldn’t be unique and we wouldn’t be doing so great at school.” –Ruth, class of 2019
1810 North Main Street Santa Ana, CA 92706-2727 714.541.8314 www.TheWoodenFloor.org
May 28-30, 2015
“I used to have bad grades. The Wooden Floor changed how I act. The tutors here helped me with tips about math. Modern dance helped me too by being a respite, so everything can just flow. Dance teaches you to think about how other people feel.” –Elizabeth, class of 2021 “The Wooden Floor has strengthened our connection as a family. We used to not connect. Now we come home, and we talk to our parents. We are more open. There is nothing like the feeling of us all dancing on the same stage. At Annual Concert, we come together before we perform, and after that, we all hug each other. My family are the first people I look for and go to hug. There is always a sibling watching me from the wings, so I know I’m a role model, and it makes me try harder.” –Sara, class of 2017
May 29, 2015
32nd Annual Concert: As light comes through Irvine Barclay Theatre
Arts Night Out! presented by 89.3 KPCC begins promptly at 6:45pm
September 24, 2015
Mark this event as a must see! Co-creating work with the nation’s leading contemporary choreographers, our young dancers and their thought-provoking performances reveal the depth of under-served youth overcoming adversity. Tickets on sale now! (See page 3 for details).
Attend a free pre-performance chat, and explore the creative process behind As light comes through with our young dancers and choreographers Faye Driscoll, John Heginbotham, and Melanie Ríos Glaser. Wine and hors d’oeuvres to follow. Performance starts at 8:00pm. RSVP by May 26 to RSVP@TheWoodenFloor.org.
Sample the world’s most exquisite wines at one of Orange County’s premier Benefits. Proceeds help The Wooden Floor keep the promise made to each of our young students: From here, you can step anywhere. Details on page 3.
9th Annual Keep the Promise Wine Tasting Benefit™ Big Canyon Country Club
Complete information on events featuring the students of The Wooden Floor is available online at www.TheWoodenFloor.org.
Step into Joy
My new piece, titled Playground, creates a space for the dancers to dance and play, tangle and untangle.
I am so excited to see how the work for our Annual Concert is taking shape. This year John Heginbotham returns to set a work using the gorgeous solo guitar music from Heitor Villa-Lobos. Fellow guest choreographer Faye Driscoll in her own words describes her dance by saying, ”Familiar images are mixed up and linked together to create new social dances and sculptural connected forms.”
We commission choreographers who are moving dance forward. How do I find these fabulous choreographers and their artistic teams? I watch choreographers work over time, particularly during the festival seasons in New York. I ask for recommendations from colleagues. It is important that these artists already be enjoying an established and thriving professional career. I also look for demonstrations of patience, as some of them will
The Wooden Floor Welcomes New Board Member Jesse M. Rodriquez, pictured here with his wife Jennifer, is Senior Vice President at UBS Financial Services and brings years of financial expertise to The Wooden Floor’s Board of Directors. His appointment comes at an exciting time as we work to further the organization’s board leadership and look for ways to impact more under-served youth in Orange County.
t h e wood e n f loor p e rforms
Jesse is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®), and a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC®). He has served families with retirement, estate planning, and asset management solutions since 1995. Jesse holds the Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA®) designation from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in Finance from CSU Long Beach.
“Being entrusted with a position on the Board of Directors for The Wooden Floor is a great honor. I welcome the opportunity to further the commendable work this organization is doing to make a difference in young students’ lives. The values of The Wooden Floor especially resonate with me, and I am looking forward to working with the rest of the Board and staff to make a lasting difference in our community,” says Jesse.
32 nd a nn ua l conc e rt m ay 28 -3 0, 2 0 1 5 irvin e ba rc l ay t h e atr e
Introducing the Class of 2015 and the Colleges They Have Been Accepted To 100% of these students are on track to enroll in college for the 11th consecutive year
Roland Acosta Elizabeth Alvarez Magdalena Castañeda Edgar Contreras Richard Dominguez Pamela Gloria Elizabeth Gomez Elizabeth Gonzalez Mary Leopo Ismael Martinez Carlos Murillo
Dario Montalvo Sharon Nieves Paula Orozco Katreena Palma Gisselle Pineda Jose Salgado Teresa Sanchez Shiomara Teran Brisna Torres Shalom Valdivieso Yuelma Zavala
2 ©The Wooden Floor | summer 2015
Cal Poly Pomona University CSU Channel Islands CSU Dominguez Hills CSU Fresno CSU Fullerton CSU Long Beach CSU Los Angeles CSU Monterey Bay CSU Sacramento CSU San Bernardino CSU Humboldt CSU Stanislaus Chapman University
Cornish College of the Arts Eugene Lang College, The New School Golden West College Hawaii Pacific University Irvine Valley College Marquette University Marymount Manhattan College Miami University in Ohio Northern Arizona University Notre Dame de Namur University Orange Coast College San Francisco State University Santa Ana College
Soka University of America St. John’s New York University Texas Christian University UC Davis UC Irvine UC Merced UC Riverside UC Santa Barbara University of Redlands University of San Diego University of San Francisco University of South Carolina University of Tennessee
have to tackle a cast of over one hundred young dancers. That they will involve our dancers as co-creators and that they enjoy working with young people is vital. In The Wooden Floor’s unique and revered artistic process, dancers are given prompts, instructions, and puzzles that they need to solve in order to create the material that the choreographer will then help to build into a coherent whole. This is where so much learning happens and includes
the deep camaraderie that is formative to their lives. None of this would be possible without the generosity of all of you who give so freely of your time, talent and treasure to this life-changing experience. By attending the performance you are affirming their creativity and most certainly helping them step into joy. Melanie Ríos Glaser Artistic Director & Co-CEO The Wooden Floor
The Wooden Floor Newsfeed July 11
Middle school students head to the mountains for leadership wilderness camps. These adventures allow our youth to recharge, take a break from the urban environment, build relationships, and hone their leadership skills.
June 10
H
ow does dance make such a difference? This question is often asked of us when first-time audience members witness the stunning poise, depth, clarity and purposeful drive that the dancers of The Wooden Floor possess when they take the stage each May at our Annual Concert. What is being seen is the tangible results of The Wooden Floor’s unparalleled and awardwinning dance education program. With over 50 dance classes per week led by seven faculty members and six live music accompanists, the properties of our dance curriculum center upon innovation, creativity, teamwork, self-sufficiency, and courage. Students learn to apply those properties to everyday life by mastering their dance classes and the choreographic process over their 10-year journey with The Wooden Floor. In pursuit of a challenge, they follow the same processes that are employed by working professionals every day: ideation, exploration, collaboration, planning,
execution, and reflection. Over and over, repeated in the classroom, the dance studio, and on stage year after year, this directly results in our students reaching new personal milestones for themselves. When they succeed, those feelings of accomplishment permeate and lift up all areas of their life, from academics to the dreams they hold for their futures. As a result, creativity is cultivated, confidence blossoms, and global citizens are born. All of this is channeled into their choreographic process for our Annual Concert, a must-see contemporary dance performance that reveals the beauty and depth of these youth as they overcome adversity. These young dancers, working with the nation’s leading choreographers, showcase just how much the human spirit can accomplish. See the list of underwriters who help make this Annual Concert possible, on page 4.
tickets on sale now
Arts Night Out!
8:00pm nightly, 2:30pm Saturday matinee
presented by
General Seating $20 Benefit Seating $50* Half price discount for children under 13 & students *includes a $30 tax-deductible contribution to help underwrite the cost of participating in the Annual Concert for one of our dancers. Online: www.TheWoodenFloor.org/Light By Phone: 949.854.4646 ext. 1 In Person: Irvine Barclay Theatre Box Office
9th Annual
Friday, May 29 at 6:45pm Make it an arts night out! Explore the work in As light comes through with the cast and choreographers Faye Driscoll, John Heginbotham, and Melanie Ríos Glaser at a free pre-concert chat followed by complimentary hors d’oeuvres and wine. Performance begins at 8:00pm.
Please RSVP by May 26 to RSVP@TheWoodenFloor.org.
A six-week collaborative workshop with the Mariposa Women & Family Center concludes. Several teenage girls of The Wooden Floor discussed topics of peer-pressure, self-esteem, teen communication, and positive relationship building.
June 8
Our students begin the summer session, which offers over 50 weekly dance classes in addition to Summer Learning Workshops in math, science, and reading; and dance intensives with dance companies and universities.
June 5
The Class of 2015 celebrates the culmination of their long journey at The Wooden Floor with a Graduation Ceremony. This marks the moment they become Alumni and join our collegetransition program, The Next Step©.
May 18
In preparation for opening night of the Annual Concert, guest choreographers Faye Driscoll, John Heginbotham, and Melanie Ríos Glaser enter the final stages of the rehearsal process, their casts full of anticipation.
May 28
Stargrams, notes sent to our dancers by encouraging supporters, are displayed backstage at the Irvine Barclay Theatre during opening night of our 32nd Annual Concert: As light comes through. Find out how you can Support a Star and send a Stargram, on page 4.
April 23
Business, civic, and community leaders gather at The Wooden Floor for its 3rd TM Annual Step Beyond Breakfast to celebrate and raise funds in support of youth who have beaten the odds and are bound for college. Guests enjoy a keynote address by José Hernández, named a Top 100 Most Influential Latino in America, a student address by Elizabeth Gonzalez, and have a chance to applaud the Class of 2015.
April 22 TM
Wine Tasting Benefit for The Wooden Floor
Thursday September 24, 2015, at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach Keep the Promise is not only Orange County’s premier wine tasting benefit, but has become a leading way that new and longtime supporters come together to celebrate The Wooden Floor’s incredible mission and outcomes. It is hard to match the award-winning wines from around the globe in some of the hardest-tofind vintages, all rated 95+ points, and hand-selected by passionate supporters of The Wooden Floor, John and Janice Markley. However, the real stars of the evening are the students and their inspiring stories of beating the odds and overcoming obstacles to graduate high school on time, and immediately enroll in higher education. For everyone in the room, there is an unrivaled feeling of warmth and pride in our collective efforts to keep the promise we make to our students that from here, they can step anywhere. Artfully-prepared, heavy hors d’oeuvres elegantly complement the evening’s extraordinary wine selections, alongside a silent auction, opportunity drawings, and visiting with students deeply impacted by your support.
Sponsorship opportunities are available. Please contact Keegan Bell at 714.541.8314 ext. 140 or Keegan@TheWoodenFloor.org for more information.
Executive Director & Co-CEO of The Wooden Floor, Dawn S. Reese, is honored as a Nonprofit Person of the Year at the Santa Ana Business Chamber of Commerce 5th Annual Difference Makers Luncheon.
April 16
Students explore new career pathways during a quarterly Career Night, featuring production and film professionals. The panel includes Pamela Ezell, Director of Broadcast & Digital Media at the Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
April 8-9
Select students from the Class of 2015 develop their future career skills during a job shadowing at Edwards Lifesciences in the engineering department.
Stay up to date! Follow us: www.TheWoodenFloor.org 3
The Wooden Floor Board of Directors 2014-2015 james a. driscoll, CHAIR Community Leader Ernesto M. Vasquez, FAIA, NCARB, immediate past Chair Partner & CEO, SVA Architects, Inc.
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’s Annua den Floor
o of The Wo
Damien Jordan, vice Chair General Manager, Retired, American Funds/Capital Group Companies, Inc. Richard C. Hunsaker, Treasurer President, Hunsaker Management Epiphany owen, secretary Partner, Government & Regulatory Law, Rutan & Tucker, LLP Joan Beall Community Leader MARIA CIRESE Parent Representative Community Leader Frank Hall Vice President Resource Development, Retired, St. Joseph Health Sharon Hartshorn Community Leader Virginia Hunsaker Community Leader Yvonne M. Jordan Community Leader JEREMY KROUT President and CEO, Environment Planning Development Solutions, Inc. Danny Melita Community Leader Yvonne R. O’Neill Certified Public Accountant, O’Neill Financial Management arthur ong Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC Luz Orozco Parent Representative Community Leader Cyrus Parker–Jeannette Dean of the College of the Arts, California State University, Long Beach JUDith f. POSNIKOFF, phd Managing Director, Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co., LLC
When you Support a Star of The Wooden Floor’s Annual Concert you make an impact in two ways:
Moises, Class of 2022
help underwrite a student’s participation 1. You in the Annual Concert, which is a leading
transformational experience that allows our youth to think differently about themselves, to push through obstacles, and emerge as strong and confident leaders.
like Moises receive words of 2. Students encouragement to let them know that who
they are, and what they have to say matters; that their months of hard work preparing for this performance have paid off; and that their community is behind them.
Support a Star!
Support a Star today, using the enclosed envelope where you will also find space to write a message for a Stargram, which will appear at the Annual Concert to congratulate our students on their remarkable achievement. Or, make your gift and submit your Stargram online at www.TheWoodenFloor.org/Star.
DAWN S. REeSE Executive Director and Co-CEO, The Wooden Floor
Jesse m. rodriQuez, CFP®, CPWA®, CRPC® Senior Vice President – Wealth Management, UBS Financial Services Inc. Kristy Santimyer-Melita Community Leader Jim Slaughter Attorney at Law, Slaughter & Slaughter, LLP Mary E. TOLAR Vice President and Senior Strategic Program Manager, American Funds/Capital Group Companies, Inc. Barbara Yingling Community Leader William Yingling III Community Leader Beth Burns, Board Emerita Founder of The Wooden Floor and Artistic Director (’83-’05) Socorro Vasquez, Board Emerita Community Leader
Photography by: Kevin P. Casey and Christine Cotter.
4 ©The Wooden Floor | summer 2015
Special thanks to our 32nd Annual Concert Underwriters
CONCERT CHAIRS Ginnie & Rich Hunsaker Linda & Tod White Charitable Fund HONORARY UNDERWRITERS Joan & Don Beall Jane & Jim Driscoll Yvonne & Damien Jordan Socorro & Ernesto Vasquez ASSOCIATE UNDERWRITERS Helen Sperry Lea Foundation Willette Charitable Foundation CONCERT UNDERWRITERS Gochnauer Family Foundation Sharon & Terry Hartshorn Marilyn McIntyre Judith F. Posnikoff Katy & Jack Schoellerman Catherine Tell CONCERT SUPPORTERS Beth A. Burns & Mark Gorman Bobbi Cox Davis/Dauray Family Fund Jesse & Jennifer Rodriquez Mary & Gary Tolar TROY Group, Inc./The Dirk Family Yellow House Fund CONCERT PARTNERS Mary Ellen Glaser Ginger & Arthur Ong Cath McIver & Jim Slaughter Judy & Dennis Sweeney Ruth D. Wetherbee Foundation Fund
For more information on sponsorships please contact Keegan Bell at 714.541.8314 ext. 140 or Keegan@TheWoodenFloor.org.
*As of March 30, 2015
Melanie Ríos Glaser Artistic Director and Co-CEO, The Wooden Floor