About Open Arms Dance Project

Open Arms Dance Project is a 501(c)(3) intergenerational & inclusive modern dance company. Our community of neurodiverse dancers with diverse bodies, ages, and abilities, has been creating powerful art together since 2008.

Our Mission is to create greater joy and compassion with dance that opens hearts, minds, and arms

Our Vision is to empower a diversity of people to share their unique creative expression through equitable, collaborative dance making that has the ability to transform communities

Our mission begins with our Open Arms community of dancers in the studio.  We enter thinking maybe our joys and stresses, hardships and happiness are unique only to us and nobody will ever really understand...  

Then, we move and breath together. We move and connect. We move and make something together that none of us could have made on our own.  And by moving alongside people who look or sound or move differently, people who are older or younger, people who are so different yet somehow just like me and you with wonderful lives full of joy and stress, hardship and glorious happiness -- we ultimately move towards greater compassion.

The Open Arms Dance Project mission is carried into our local community when we perform.  Audiences see the immense respect we have for each other and the cooperation it takes to create the art we present.  Women and men, young and old, from every culture and background, respond with standing ovations, praise, and very often tears.  Hearts are moved towards greater compassion.

Open Arms dancers range in age from 7-90+ years young.  Some dancers have physical and/or intellectual disabilities, and others do not.  All are respected for what they add to the group, whether that be youthful energy, humor, wisdom, dance skills, or a positive attitude.  

Our dance company rehearses and performs September through May.  Tuition is on a sliding scale.  Members contribute what they feel is a sustainable amount for their finances as well as Open Arms Dance Project's continued operation.

We rehearse in JUMP’s 5th floor Move Studio on Tuesday evenings. We perform several times throughout each season at various venues and events. Our previous shows have included:

  • Cultivate, a dance concert by Open Arms Dance Project at Jewett Auditorium in Caldwell, Idaho

  • Threads, a dance concert by Open Arms Dance Project at the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts in Boise, Idaho

  • Dance Boise! outdoor community concert

  • ILLUMiBRATE! and other community events at JUMP

  • Human rights events at the Anne Frank Memorial with the Wassmuth Center

  • Treefort Music Festival/Kidfort

  • Upstanders with Open Arms school shows with an uplifting anti-bullying theme

  • Museums, art galleries, and First Thursday events

  • Site-specific flash mobs to celebrate accessible walkways and features

  • The 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games