January 5, 2026
Celebrating Movement: Dance Programs Thriving in Culver City Schools
The Culver City Education Foundation (CCEF) has a strong commitment to sustaining visual and performing arts education opportunities for all students in the Culver City Unified School District. CCUSD’s dance programs are not only teaching technique, but also strengthening community, confidence, and creativity in students of all ages.
Our district’s dance programs continue to grow in exciting ways, and this year marks a milestone: Culver City High School (CCHS) has been selected to host the statewide CA DANCES celebration. Led by the California Dance Educators Association (CDEA), this event highlights not only outstanding student choreography but also offers hands-on learning in event production that will provide solid, marketable career skills for CCHS students.
On Saturday, January 24, CCHS will welcome dance programs from across California for a full day of workshops and an evening concert at the Robert Frost Auditorium. Four master classes will be offered during the day, including sessions taught by the renowned VersaStyle Dance Companyand guest artist Kim Davagian. CCHS students in the third year of their Continuing Technical Education (CTE) Dance Pathway will take on professional-level roles for the event – adjudicating works for the festival, coordinating logistics for visiting schools, supporting PR and marketing, and working in stage management, front of house, and backstage operations. CCHS is honored to partner with CDEA because the event will provide exceptional work-based learning opportunities, giving our students real-world experience in arts production.
At Culver City Middle School, dance reaches every student. Now in its sixth year, the CCMS Dance Residencies program brings professional teaching artists into PE classes for five-session workshops each spring. Each grade level experiences a different dance style. On The Edge Dance Studio will teach hip hop to 8th graders, 7th graders will learn African dance, and Lula Washington Dance Theatre will introduce contemporary dance to 6th grade classes. Past partners have included Ballet Folklorico Flor de Maya, Viver Brasil, and Leela Dance Collective.
Elementary aged students can get a taste of the dance opportunities ahead through Saturday Dance sessions taught by high school students on the last Saturday of every month. Student dancers in the high school’s Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) teach these super fun classes to the younger students. For more information and to RSVP go to avpa.org.
Many students report that dance provides a welcome break from academic pressures and helps them build friendships across grade levels. From festival stages to middle school PE sessions, dance in our district continues to expand. In celebrating movement, our schools are nurturing not only skilled dancers, but resilient, expressive young people ready to shine—onstage and beyond. Your donations to the Culver City Education Foundation help to make these and other transformative arts experiences possible.
