The Reason
Atelier, pronounced (uh-teh-lee-ei), is a noun meaning “an artist’s workshop”.
Atelier Dance Company’s purpose is to create a space for classically trained adult dancers who miss creating and performing with other artists.
The space created is for dancers to collaborate, create, and perform thought-provoking and entertaining contemporary choreography. Dancers can express their creativity and fill their artistic void with like-minded and passionate dancers in the Grand Rapids area.
“With few opportunities for adult dancers who have chosen other career paths, Atelier Dance Company provides a place for artists who want more than an adult dance class but less than a professional career in dance.”
“One of the few places in which we can emotionally make contact with other fellow human beings, in which we can talk to the really significant, existential things that truly matter to us, is the arts. It is the thing that elevates us from other kinds of beings, the ability to make that kind of connection consciously. The valuing of art is the valuing, in my mind, of our humanity.”
— Dr. Gus Casley-Hayford
Director, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art