After a half hour commute from Tahoe City, Jack Blackmon arrives at InnerRhythms Dance Centre in Truckee and instantly feels at home, like there’s no other place he’d rather be. Regardless of what his week, day, or even his drive to the studio has brought — which can be a lot, especially for a 17-year-old senior at North Tahoe High — he leaves it all behind as he walks through the doors and prepares for his Monday through Friday routine: four hours of dance classes and rehearsals. And he would be there even more if he could.
Blackmon has danced with InnerRhythms for the past four years and is now auditioning for college dance programs. He is one of over 200 members of the InnerRhythms family, which ranges in age from 3 to adults. With a weekly schedule of 58 classes, from ballet to hip-hop to salsa, and six audition-only performance companies, InnerRhythms supplies the Tahoe/Truckee demand for dance instruction and performance.
Now that it has acquired additional studio space, allowing an increase in the variety of classes, and students are beginning preparations for the annual summer performances, even more dancers are finding their inner rhythms at the centre.
EARLY DAYS InnerRhythms was founded in 2002 by Elizabeth Archer and Sheri L. WoodsGreen, primarily as the dance company InnerRhythms Dance Theatre, and originally located in the Truckee Airport Business Park. Archer and WoodsGreen both studied dance as young girls and into their 20s — Archer focused more on classical, and WoodsGreen on contemporary styles — and both carried with them a passion for dance that stayed with them through day jobs and inspired them to start their own dance company.
“I started dancing when I was 13 and I couldn’t get enough of it,” Archer, 60, said. Growing up in Stockton, Calif., she studied classical ballet and jazz and danced with Ballet San Joaquin, which inspired her vision for InnerRhythms. “It fed that creative side of me … When I got to connect my creative self to a physical activity, that was the magic. Being able to pass that on is just a dream come true.”
Shortly thereafter, the company began offering classes and steadily increasing the numbers and styles of classes, performance companies, and number of instructors. The addition of hip-hop classes in 2004, followed by the centre’s 2010 move to its current location in the Tri Counties Bank Plaza on Donner Pass Road caused the number of male students to skyrocket, with more male dancers trying out classical styles as well. Even in a region of extreme sports and outdoors activities, there is a hunger for the performing arts, perhaps best illustrated by the class waitlists that continue to lengthen.
ON STAGE From its inception, InnerRhythms has been a nonprofit organization. “Being a nonprofit is really special to us because it’s not about any one of us … I wanted it to be about what you see here,” Archer explained, gesturing toward a ballet class. “The dance centre was created as a revenue stream to support the dance theatre back in 2002.” While classes still draw in many new dancers and help sustain the centre financially, the performance companies motivate students to improve their techique. “That’s why the kids want to come take classes, so they can dance in the dance companies,” she said.
Currently, InnerRhythms has six performance companies: the two premier companies, Dance Theatre (contemporary and classical ballet, jazz, and lyrical influences) and RhythMatriX (hip-hop); followed by junior companies The Breaks, Pulse, Crescendo, and Paradiddle (the youngest group).
All InnerRhythms dancers perform at the year-end showcase. This year’s showcase, “Down the Rabbit Hole,” is scheduled for June 27 to 29 at Truckee High School; dancers must enroll for classes by April 1 in order to be cast in the show. The junior companies participate in dance competitions, while the upper level companies work on intensive choreography for the annual summertime gala and Artown performance. This year’s “Windows of the Soul” performance is set to classic rock music — like Queen, The Beatles, and Santana — with the gala set for July 19 at the Truckee Amphitheater, and the Artown show on July 22 in Reno.
LIFE LESSONS “Our mission is to use the power of dance and music to cultivate life skills in our youth, promote global stewardship, and create an everlasting passion for the arts in the communities we serve,” reads the nonprofit’s mission statement. Archer has seen many of the dancers infuse InnerRhythms-inspired lessons into their adult lives, regardless of whether or not they pursue dance professionally. In addition to performing at the annual Trails & Vistas art hike and concert, company dancers regularly volunteer their time as entertainment and helping hands at events for local rotary clubs and schools, Tahoe Safe Alliance, Arts for the Schools, and more.
As a nonprofit, InnerRhythms is continuously competing for community dollars, sometimes against basic need organizations that often, understandably, end up receiving the largest slice of the grant pie. “We believe that part of a healthy community contains the arts,” Archer said. “The arts are often seen as just a hobby or extracurricular thing. We feel that [dance] is a basic need, for health and wellbeing, because how many times do our dreams take us through times when we are destitute, when we are devastated? When we are sad and hungry, we still have our dreams.”
NEW SPACE Though funding is a constant challenge, the dedicated board members, dancers, and their families have created a thriving centre and a giant family. When the studio’s next-door neighbor, Caltrans, moved out last April, paving the way for a much-needed expansion, the InnerRhythms family came together to retrofit the office space into a dance studio. “We’ve had people come out of the woodwork … we’ve had drywallers and painters, and Truckee-Tahoe Lumber donated all the materials, and it’s just been a labor of love with huge support,” Archer said. The expansion-in-progress has already doubled the number of studios from two to four and the number of classes from 23 to 58 in a matter of months, but there is still much to be done — including raising $7,500 for dance flooring and $3,500 for a sound system.
While training community-minded dancers, InnerRhythms also has a hand in character building: the dancers are taught how to be ambassadors for the centre, and how to be role models for the younger dancers. As a performer, choreographer, and mentor at InnerRhythms, dancer Blackmon can’t say enough about the centre. He’s honored to help influence fellow dancers to explore dance as expression — especially inspiring other boys to try dance other than hip-hop — and he appreciates that the centre has allowed him to find his voice as a choreographer and teacher. “Working with other dancers and helping them to achieve their goals is so fulfilling; teaching inspires me as much as dancing does,” he said. Blackmon also shared the personal mantra that he has developed: “Stay hungry and stay humble.” As he moves on to college and beyond, he will bring the life lessons, wise mantra, and love for dance that InnerRhythms has given him.
For more information about InnerRhythms, and to see the class schedule, visit innerrhythms.org. The first class is always free.
Check out Moonshine’s video of InnerRhythms students showcasing their dance moves.
