Vytal
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Help with our Kickstarter!
We are excited to share our Kickstarter designed to assist in the production of upcoming shows! Kickstarters require that an organization reaches its entire goal to receive any of its raised donations, so we invite you to consider assisting us! See the following for more details and to find out what you might receive in appreciation from us depending on giving amounts.
Presenting the art of dance to Engage, Educate & Encourage
Vytal Movement Dance is Spokane's contemporary company. Join us in making professional dance part of the pride of Spokane.
Engage the community with positive action.
Educate audiences about dance through performance, presentations, and example.
Encourage community development of dance and the arts.
Engage the community with positive action.
Educate audiences about dance through performance, presentations, and example.
Encourage community development of dance and the arts.
Thank you to Vincas Greene for serving Vytal!
Founding Director, Vincas Greene, is now stepping down as Artistic Director of Vytal Movement Dance. We are tremendously grateful for the dedication he has brought to this organization and to the arts in Spokane. We are additionally thankful that he will remain within the company as a choreographer and instructor! Please see below for a letter he has shared with all of us:
My dear Vytal family,
Vytal Movement Dance has had a fantastic year! We moved into our new space in downtown Spokane, received a Spokane Arts Grants Award (SAGA), produced Together We Dance with guest company Quiero Flamenco in the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center at Gonzaga, added several new dancers to the company, and produced Sanctuary in our downtown space. I am incredibly proud and honored to be working with all the people of Vytal that make these wonderful accomplishments possible!
The great work that we have done bringing professional dance to Spokane and our region since I first started teaching open classes in late 2015 is an astounding story. We have come from a small collection of independent dancers to become a named company, received our nonprofit status, developed a Board of Directors, established a new dance space, raised up more dancers, choreographers, and associated artists, and weathered a world-wide pandemic! Wow, everyone who has supported Vytal on any level should be proud of being a part of this excellent progress. I thank each and every one of you.
Amidst the joy that I have working and creating with Vytal, I find myself having to care for my family in new ways as my parents age, my first grandchild is on the way, and my employment changes. I must step back from the constant care that I have happily given to Vytal and transfer it to my family. Change is always waiting for us in the wings, ready to step onto the stage of life and whisk us into a new and different story.
Looking back on the change that brought my life to create Vytal, I am going to use some of the same words to express this new change.
I would like to preface this with the note that I love you. You all know Terpsichore is a hard mistress and we empower her to keep her eagle eyes upon us so that we may constantly be prepared as her emissaries or as Martha Graham calls us – Athletes of God. To this end, I give you these words as a teacher/friend/elder/director who wants each of you to be the best person (supporter, artist, dancer, creator) you can possibly achieve and carry the flame of Vytal forward.
The Scottish Psychologist R.D. Laing wrote “Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent.” This entwines with our lives as dance people so well – Dance is passed from one person to another in a centuries old chain we can gaze back upon seeing our ancestors as they struggled, loved, and taught each other transmitting their knowledge, discoveries and passions over the years to our most recent teachers, to each of us and then on to our students and, in my case, to my grand-children of dance. Dance is the physical manifestation of passion and dancers are the vessels. We become so full of passion it leaps out as dance, love, and art. No wonder the world sees us as sensual because our life is communication made physical. Even as our bodies begin to slow, our minds still rage with the exuberance of youth as we picture new dances forming and how our dream-perfect bodies would experience each movement. You can see it in the eyes of our elders as they describe to us past performances and new ideas – and we can also see it as their bodies still enact, as best they can, each nuance that is being described. But we know that for each of us, eventually, the body and the mind come to perfect stillness and the end of the dance, when the performer leaves the stage.
The time between discovering our passion for dance and the stillness should be full of stories. A story to be spoken or danced is what we have to offer – to contribute to those with us now and those who will hear of us later. Remember, dance is the most ephemeral of the arts so it is our stories that we leave behind when we leave the stage. I am challenging each of you to create stories that matter. Have experiences that will help you to live stories of excitement, challenge, trepidation, pain, redemption, love…stories that are powerful!
Vytal Movement Dance is a powerful story and you are part of it. Tell the story to your friends, family, and new people you meet. They will be moved by the story. They, also, may want to become part of the story and be able to share it as their own.
The world is littered with people who didn’t risk themselves. Their stories are boring, uninspiring and predictable. I remember the absolute fear of starting my life story in dance. I remember the fear of starting new chapters in this story – When I was moving to New York and just wanted to stay home. Feeling the transition of sitting on the jet mortified at what I was doing and then relaxing into the adventure when the wheels left the ground and there was no turning back. As you now know, I am starting a new chapter in my life story. I intend to keep taking risks and to continue creating with Vytal but my role will be as a choreographer. I will always be Vytal’s Founding Director but new and wonderful people will be leading in the roles of Artistic Director and President of the Board. Give them your best, build them up, and remember that you are a vital part of this story going forward.
I challenge and charge you as a supporter/dancer/board member to be courageous in your belief that your Vytal story matters. It is truly a risk to embrace the arts as life and choosing dance among the arts is probably the riskiest. Following a path of passionate dance as a performer or supporter is not easily understood by our society. But our society also loves the underdog that takes a risk to pursue the elusive dream. Telling that story, our story, of how we are on the path is the story that draws people to you. They are illuminated by the fire of your passion and excited by the depth of your dedication.
Love and Dance - Vincas
Vytal Movement Dance has had a fantastic year! We moved into our new space in downtown Spokane, received a Spokane Arts Grants Award (SAGA), produced Together We Dance with guest company Quiero Flamenco in the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center at Gonzaga, added several new dancers to the company, and produced Sanctuary in our downtown space. I am incredibly proud and honored to be working with all the people of Vytal that make these wonderful accomplishments possible!
The great work that we have done bringing professional dance to Spokane and our region since I first started teaching open classes in late 2015 is an astounding story. We have come from a small collection of independent dancers to become a named company, received our nonprofit status, developed a Board of Directors, established a new dance space, raised up more dancers, choreographers, and associated artists, and weathered a world-wide pandemic! Wow, everyone who has supported Vytal on any level should be proud of being a part of this excellent progress. I thank each and every one of you.
Amidst the joy that I have working and creating with Vytal, I find myself having to care for my family in new ways as my parents age, my first grandchild is on the way, and my employment changes. I must step back from the constant care that I have happily given to Vytal and transfer it to my family. Change is always waiting for us in the wings, ready to step onto the stage of life and whisk us into a new and different story.
Looking back on the change that brought my life to create Vytal, I am going to use some of the same words to express this new change.
I would like to preface this with the note that I love you. You all know Terpsichore is a hard mistress and we empower her to keep her eagle eyes upon us so that we may constantly be prepared as her emissaries or as Martha Graham calls us – Athletes of God. To this end, I give you these words as a teacher/friend/elder/director who wants each of you to be the best person (supporter, artist, dancer, creator) you can possibly achieve and carry the flame of Vytal forward.
The Scottish Psychologist R.D. Laing wrote “Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent.” This entwines with our lives as dance people so well – Dance is passed from one person to another in a centuries old chain we can gaze back upon seeing our ancestors as they struggled, loved, and taught each other transmitting their knowledge, discoveries and passions over the years to our most recent teachers, to each of us and then on to our students and, in my case, to my grand-children of dance. Dance is the physical manifestation of passion and dancers are the vessels. We become so full of passion it leaps out as dance, love, and art. No wonder the world sees us as sensual because our life is communication made physical. Even as our bodies begin to slow, our minds still rage with the exuberance of youth as we picture new dances forming and how our dream-perfect bodies would experience each movement. You can see it in the eyes of our elders as they describe to us past performances and new ideas – and we can also see it as their bodies still enact, as best they can, each nuance that is being described. But we know that for each of us, eventually, the body and the mind come to perfect stillness and the end of the dance, when the performer leaves the stage.
The time between discovering our passion for dance and the stillness should be full of stories. A story to be spoken or danced is what we have to offer – to contribute to those with us now and those who will hear of us later. Remember, dance is the most ephemeral of the arts so it is our stories that we leave behind when we leave the stage. I am challenging each of you to create stories that matter. Have experiences that will help you to live stories of excitement, challenge, trepidation, pain, redemption, love…stories that are powerful!
Vytal Movement Dance is a powerful story and you are part of it. Tell the story to your friends, family, and new people you meet. They will be moved by the story. They, also, may want to become part of the story and be able to share it as their own.
The world is littered with people who didn’t risk themselves. Their stories are boring, uninspiring and predictable. I remember the absolute fear of starting my life story in dance. I remember the fear of starting new chapters in this story – When I was moving to New York and just wanted to stay home. Feeling the transition of sitting on the jet mortified at what I was doing and then relaxing into the adventure when the wheels left the ground and there was no turning back. As you now know, I am starting a new chapter in my life story. I intend to keep taking risks and to continue creating with Vytal but my role will be as a choreographer. I will always be Vytal’s Founding Director but new and wonderful people will be leading in the roles of Artistic Director and President of the Board. Give them your best, build them up, and remember that you are a vital part of this story going forward.
I challenge and charge you as a supporter/dancer/board member to be courageous in your belief that your Vytal story matters. It is truly a risk to embrace the arts as life and choosing dance among the arts is probably the riskiest. Following a path of passionate dance as a performer or supporter is not easily understood by our society. But our society also loves the underdog that takes a risk to pursue the elusive dream. Telling that story, our story, of how we are on the path is the story that draws people to you. They are illuminated by the fire of your passion and excited by the depth of your dedication.
Love and Dance - Vincas
Equity and Anti-Racism Statement
Vytal Movement believes that everyone deserves to feel safe and respected within the dance community and considers it essential to support strong and diverse voices as a part of our development as a company and community organization. We embrace the following commitments to continuously reduce and remove structural racism and all other forms of institutional discrimination in all the work we do and in the communities in which we are engaged:
Vytal Movement believes that everyone deserves to feel safe and respected within the dance community and considers it essential to support strong and diverse voices as a part of our development as a company and community organization. We embrace the following commitments to continuously reduce and remove structural racism and all other forms of institutional discrimination in all the work we do and in the communities in which we are engaged:
- Understanding the social, economic, and ecological disparities are interconnected, and respecting and honoring each individual's culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, socio-economic class, and religion.
- Empowering and encouraging our artists and members of the board to engage in continued self-education, reflection, and dialog outside of the workplace regarding anti-racism and equity.
- Working to ensure that our goals surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion are reflected in our art.
- Continuing to invite, acknowledge, and accept stakeholder feedback regarding our racial equity and other inclusivity initiatives.
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