"The only risk in life is not taking one."

Moving Arts Dance performs works of dance art that speak to the emotional realities of our time through a fusion of ballet and modern dance styles. Under the direction of Anandha Ray, this company has been internationally heralded for their ability to express the common experiences of humans. As "cultural ambassadors" for the American Embassy, the company has performed command concerts for foreign dignitaries in addition to two national tours of Belarus titled "Dance Without Borders". The mission of these tours, as is our mission on other international tours and at home in America, is to bridge the gap between fractions, allowing people to be seen as "one-people" who experience similar feelings and have similar issues, rather than being labeled by other standards that serve to divide us.

Through dance, the company provides an education in our home community that is outside of the ability of standard dance studios. In a curriculum developed by Ray (who holds two masters degrees and is a former Chairperson of a university dance program) the program gives students the opportunity to express themselves in an artistic venue while learning skills that enhance their academic success including self-discipline, creative problem solving, and becoming an integral part of a vital dance community. The program includes a range of from one to five days a week of study, depending on the stated goals of the student.

As a child, Ray was denied access to dance classes due to her famiy's limited financial resources. In high school, she was able to take modern dance and immediately began winning acclaim and being given awards and scholarships. After three decades of a career and life in dance, Ray is a multiple award winning choreographer who has been inducted into the Contra Costa Women's Hall of Fame, received a citation from the United States Senate for her services in dance, and has been heralded as a VIsionary of the East Bay Area by Diablo Magazine. Having toured seven countries and throughout the United States to critical acclaim, Ray has shifted priority to developing a local dance curriculum for at-risk and disadvantaged students, in addition to the current pre-professional training the studio offers. In June, with the assistance of local businesses and the parents of student dancers, Ray and Scott Belding have just developed the Moving Arts Dance Center and Theater, a beautiful dance school with two studios, one of which is a black box theater near the Sun Valley Shopping Center in Concord.

Each month, the company hosts performances of dance by local companies, students and hosting professional companies from as far away as France and Belarus. Annually the company hosts the MAD, BAD Performance Festival. In 2008 the festival accepted 30 choreographers from 17 cities throughout California. Auditioning by videotape, the companies are selected to perform in four various concerts. In 2009, one evening will include a dance film festival, another will include multi-media performances, a third will be professional dance companies and a four evening will give pre-professionals the opportunity to showcase their work in a professional venue.

Each year Moving Arts Dance produces three local performances that includes students in character roles, dancing on the stage beside the professional dancers in principal roles. These include scholarship students, for whom we provide all costumes and performance needs. These performances in the past year include: The MAD Hatter Performance and Tea Party, Giselle Act III, and Judgment Day on All Hallows Eve.

Often, the advanced students at Moving Arts Dance Center, many of them scholarship students, are offered the opportunity to tour with Moving Arts Dance, to participate in educational outreach, and in some cases to perform on tour with the company. Students have toured as far as France, Germany and Belarus, and often tour to local venues within a one-day drive of our community.

Additionally, the studio offers a "Faculty Partnerships Program", through which dance faculty at any facility (currently including studios, colleges and high schools), are offered scholarships to take any classes or workshops they desire, are offered the mentorship of Anandha Ray to develop their dance curriculum. Ray has also worked with colleges, universities and school districts as a consultant and providing in-services to dance faculty, administrators and after-school service providers.