Without fail, without doubt, a strong community can heal a broken heart. Kasey Correia knows this first-hand, and witnesses it each morning when she steps into Dancing Spirit Center of the Arts. Dancing Spirit is a cultural hub that celebrates art, resilience, and creativity. Offering the gift of community, belonging, and creative expression, vital tools used to overcome past trauma and hurt. Correia, the Executive Director, believes “Art can revitalize a town”. When we work together, love one another, and cherish each other for all our talents, quirks, and passions then we can all flourish.
Dancing Spirit aims to heal the community as many individuals work through generational and historical traumas. “Dancing Spirit is about finding a place that you can connect and… feel like you belong to”. Correia states, ”We want to find other ways for our community to get healthy. So giving them a place to express themselves, and find their happy place” provides opportunities to heal.
Dancing Spirit has changed a lot in the past decade. Starting as a small art guild built for artists to convene and assemble, to now finishing the construction of their new beautiful building. With each obstacle, Correia focuses on what matters most, the pivot. She reflects back to March 17th, 2020, a day she will never forget. The streets were bare, no kids around, no laughter, no joy, and complete isolation. It was a major loss in motivation and direction. Correia asked, “What happened to my world?”, an overwhelming question leaving many speechless. Bound to isolation, Correia and her team decided to create art kits and give them out to Ignacio residents. They sent out 250+ free art kits a week and would offer an interactive art class on Zoom every Friday. It was a labor of love and boosted community spirits.
Each pivot has proved to be a stride forward, a step into the future, a continuation of Dancing Spirits’ goals and values. Most recent being the new construction of the Center of the Arts building in the heart of downtown. When you enter, you walk into the gallery space where local artists can gain inspiration and display their work. With plenty of wall space, jewelry cases, and dedicated displays for sculpture and woodworking. Walk a bit further and you enter the community flex space, a grand open room large enough to host yoga and dance classes. Off to the right, there is a stage for performing arts, live music, comedy shows, and more. This space offers people the opportunity to bring their vision to light. Whether that be a one-man show, a poetry slam, karaoke, or an educational workshop. Just reach out to Correia and she is happy to help and connect you with other artists!
A dedicated classroom space was also created to house six pottery wheels, where adults and kids can attend classes. Correia, a potter by heart, is one of the instructors at Dancing Spirit. She describes the process of creating a bowl, highlighting the importance of working with raw materials. It starts with grinding down the dirt and removing the debris, a grounding activity. Correia states, “The grinding is soothing, I talk while people are doing this process” and guide them through their thoughts and intentions when working with the material.
Once the bowl starts to take shape, she encourages you to write on it, draw on it, do whatever feels right at that moment, “You will be feeding yourself these words or these images, so think what do you want to say to yourself and give to yourself?”. This process becomes an act of healing, feeding the mind, body, and spirit.
Dancing Spirit had its grand opening on October 25th welcoming everyone to the new building and announced their first exhibit celebrating Día de los Muertos. Be sure to check it out and show your support! Visit their website to learn more and donate.
"The reach for this dream was huge... but it shows that in a small town you can go big!"