Fostering community in and around dance.
Crawl is a new Agora Artists program in which we partner with local dance artists and organizations in creating a curated guide to a weekend of dance programming in Dallas.
supported by the City of Dallas Office of Arts & Culture’s Culture of Value Micro-grant
Facilitating Partners
We’re excited to work with these spectacular artists this Crawl!
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Crawl Class Co-Teacher
Renuka’s dance is an organic amalgamation of styles intersecting between traditional and contemporary templates to tell personal and reflective stories. As a dancer, she aspires to create honest, relevant work, and in step with the current times. She looks at tradition with a modern mind, to explore the past to create a new, imaginative future. With years of training and experience in Bharatanatyam (Indian Classical Dance), she continues to evolve her craft, always seeking new ways to push the boundaries with her movement style.
In addition to her work as a performer, Renuka is also a mentor and Artist Facilitator, dedicated to empowering the next generation of artists. She is committed to making a meaningful impact through her work on and off stage with Garage Arts Project, a Texas nonprofit organization.
She is a graduate of DePaul University, Chicago, and holds a master’s degree in Information Security.
She also devotes her time to volunteering for several nonprofits and community-serving organizations in Dallas, TX.
photo by Corey Haynes
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Community Visioning Co-FacilitatorELIZABETH VAN VLECK, Bruce Wood Dance Associate Executive Director, worked professionally as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and rehearsal director in New York City for more than 15 years with organizations including NYC Ballet, National Dance Institute, and Shapiro & Smith Dance. She is a certified personal trainer and a teacher of both Pilates and yoga. She retired from performing in 1996 and started working full time as a private special needs fitness consultant for Italy’s Agnelli family for 10 years. She holds a B.S. in Psychology (CUNY Baccalaureate, Magna Cum Laude), and an M.F.A. in Arts Administration from Southern Utah University under William J. Byrnes, author of Management and the Arts. Through her M.F.A. externships, Van Vleck worked as operations manager of the Utah Shakespeare Festival Education Department, Marketing and Public Relationships Manager of the School of Performing and Visual Arts, and as part of the Development and VIP Ticket Services team at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. After graduation, Van Vleck went on to the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at California Institute of the Arts as Operations and Production Manager and Co-producer of Special Projects. While in Los Angeles, she founded the arts Management consulting organization, Making Art Happen. Through Making Art Happen, she worked with dance companies including Diavolo: Architecture In Motion, BODYTRAFFIC, and Ate9 Dance Company. She moved to Dallas in late 2013 to work for the Dance Council of North Texas as Administration Manager. At DCNT, Van Vleck worked on projects including Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, DCNT’s Dance Planet, and Dallas DanceFest. She most recently served as development director for TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND, North Texas’ preeminent presenter of international contemporary dance and performance art where she oversaw all aspects of fundraising and oversaw TITAS’ collaborative education and engagement programs including visiting artist master classes and salons, Dance for PD Dallas, and TITAS Cultural Excursions.
photo by Kent Barker
Weekend Schedule!
Crawl Pass - $45
Friday Nov 3
8PM - TITAS / DANCE UNBOUND PRESENTS LES 7 DOIGTS’ PASSAGERS (Original Price: $26 + fees)
Saturday Nov 3
10:30AM TO 12PM - CONTEMPORARY BHARATANATYAM CLASS INSTRUCTED BY RENUKA, LAUREN & AVERY - JAI (Original price $10)
1PM TO 3PM - DANCE COMMUNITY VISIONING
5PM - 6 O’CLOCK DANCE THEATRE TRUNK SHOW
(Original price $25-$40)
8PM - BOMBSHELL DANCE PROJECT IN THE CONSERVATORY WITH THE KNIFE (Original price $35 + fees)
Inspiration for Crawl…
In February 2020, Agora Artists worked with a group of local dancers to host Dallas Dance Weekend. The weekend consisted of classes taught by Agora Artists affiliates, a jam hosted by DFW Improv Jammers, discounted tickets to a TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND performance at the Winspear Opera House, and a forum hosted by Agora Artists and Suzi Jerry at Arts Mission Oak Cliff. The weekend was a beautiful example of the kind of work Agora Artists is focused on: facilitating community among local dance organizations, highlighting existing programming, holding space for artists of color, and offering opportunities to a range of dancers and audiences to engage in dance in various ways. Dallas Dance Weekend, along with other efforts to bring communities together around dance, led to Crawl.