A message from our executive director and founder

November 17, 2020

 

Hello Friends of DanceAbility,

 

Thank you all for the financial and moral support you have given us in the months since COVID-19 upended all of our plans for 2020. In a time when our teaching and performance income has been severely restricted and every cent counts, your generous support has made it possible for us to continue to do our important work, adapting to this new, virtual world.

 

And sadly, in July, the DanceAbility family was further tested by the loss of our beloved Board Chair, Steve Christiansen. Steve’s guidance and counsel was a steady beacon to the staff and board. His willingness to help with so many aspects of the DanceAbility business as well as raise funds, will be hard to replace.  We miss his presence, his talent, and his compassion, everyday. 

 

At DanceAbility, we, like so many other organizations, had to reorganize priorities and business models to deal with the pandemic.  The collapse of our teaching and performance schedule allowed us to re-prioritize and accelerate other project timelines. Alito, Connie, and Maja Hehlen, a DanceAbility master teacher in Germany, plunged into the task of writing and finishing DanceAbility, a book about the origin, philosophy and methods of DancaAbility that we hope will become a must-have text book for dance instructors around the world.  This book will be both a revenue source and the written legacy of the DanceAbility Method. Alito has also made the shift to online teaching, creating and holding a virtual Master Teacher Training, which was very successful.

 

In 2021, we have several different online and live trainings scheduled. Hopefully the pandemic situation will be resolved in the spring and we will move forward with live training in the summer in Austria and Germany,

 

DanceAbility needs your help more than ever to accomplish our work, and to fund the transition to new ways of presenting that work. For example, we now know that virtual classes can be successful, but we need the equipment to create these classes with the kind of professional production values that will make them attractive to prospective students. Each single course will require recording 10-20 classes lasting from two to six hours each, plus post-production. In addition, the DanceAbility Teacher’s Manual will be a combination of online and printed materials.  All of this will require us to develop new skill sets and learn new technology. It’s also possible that we may need to subcontract this work.

 

Accomplishing these goals will help ensure that DanceAbility’s mission can be carried on into whatever the post-COVID world offers. Our flexibility, adaptability and creativity were tested as an organization and as individuals this year, and we are proud to have met every challenge that 2020 has thrown at us thus far. We need your financial support to be ready for the challenges awaiting us in 2021. 

 

When considering your donation, please know that the CARES Act, the huge relief bill passed earlier this year, temporarily increased the Adjusted Gross Income limits for donations to certain charities. DanceAbility is one of those charities. Please consult your financial advisor or tax professional to determine the application of the CARES Act to your individual circumstances.

 

Wishing you a safe, and happy, holiday season and new year!

 

 

 

Alito Alessi, Executive Director

 

Donations to DanceAbility may be tax-deductible on your Federal and State tax returns.

Please consult your financial advisor or tax professional.

Our Federal Tax ID number is 94-30300-30

 

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