Riverside Park Pavilion
You Can Dance — Outside! Ypsilanti
Step Dance
You Can Dance —Outside! returns for another summer of movement and community across southeast Michigan.
This year, UMS is doubling down on the dance fun by offering two dance sessions! Each day will begin with a 45-minute Introduction to Dance workshop that creates space for participants ages six and up to ground themselves in the basics of the movement form. This will be followed by an hour-long Curious Movers workshop for participants ages 12 and up who want to deepen their dance experience through further exploration of forms and rhythms.
Dance and music are highly tied together, and we find out just how much in these workshops. We’ll explore Step Dance, a movement style with a long-standing history of dance and music connecting as one. Through that movement exploration, we will deepen our understanding of sound and body while broadening our knowledge of this movement’s history and cross-cultural context.
10 am // Introduction to Step Dance // Ages 6+
11 am // Curious Movers: Step Dance // Ages 12+
No dance experience is required to participate, and workshops are free and open to the public. Register to attend one or both workshops – there will be a 15-minute break in between. We ask that participants 12 and under have a parent/guardian present at all times.
Frequently asked questions
Miryam Johnson is a Detroit-based Dance Artist, Educator, and Arts Organizer. With degrees from Eastern Michigan University in Dance and African American Studies, Johnson’s work explores the intersections between improvised movement vernaculars, creating communal relationships, and mind-body practices.
She was a company member and collaborator of Harge Dance Stories for four seasons as well as a featured dancer in John Sobczak’s book “Portraits in Motion.” Johnson curated and choreographed the evening-length work REBELLION, which premiered at Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Detroit Rebellion. Johnson’s had the honor of being under the tutelage of Barbara Selinger, Nancy Lushington, Sabatino Verlezza, Barbara Verlezza, John Griffin, Kristi Faulkner, Anna Martine Whitehead, Penny Godboldo as well as performed works by critically acclaimed Mae O’Donnell, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, and Diane McIntyre.
Johnson currently serves as a Co-Founder of Collective Sweat Detroit (CSD), a Teaching Artist with Living Arts Detroit, and a member of “The Gathering” (a Black Femme Dance Collective)