Meet Sarah Leversee of Art as Action in Broomfield

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Leversee.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sarah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Dancing to my parents’ records in the living room with my big sister, standing at the bar impatiently in ballet class itching to move across the floor, performing my heart out every chance I got, my young identity was always dancer. I produced my first show in high school and started teaching jazz and hip-hop as soon as I graduated. I have a minor in dance from CU Boulder, along with a BS in advertising and a BA in studio art.

My favorite part of dance has always been the freedom. Sharing my passion with an audience and expressing my feeling through my body is high unlike any other. When I was a young dancer, I was often told I was “too much” that I needed to be smaller and more in control. Whether as a gangly teenager or a now 5’11” grown woman, I would not be contained. I just had to DANCE.

My life’s work has become not only experiencing that freedom myself but creating spaces for others to experience it as well. Dance brings people together and generates compassion and gratitude for oneself, for the community of dancers and the world. Virtuosic dance is a wonderful way to communicate with an audience, but it is not the only way to make a connection. Witnessing someone dance from their heart and tell their story through their body is powerful, even if the dancer isn’t able to leap, do multiple pirouettes or kick high.

During my formative years, dance was about technique, achievement and looking a certain way. My mission has become to redefine dance as something that is for everybody dance is too magical, too powerful (and too fun!) to only be available to a privileged few.

I have completed multiple training’s with Dance for PD® founding teacher David Leventhal and was awarded a Stanley J. Wertheimer Fellowship, which provides in-depth training and mentorship to exceptionally qualified teachers offering high quality dance classes modeled after Dance for PD®. Alongside my dance journey, my resume includes a lot of graphic design, branding, finance and non-profit management. I love bringing creativity to all parts of life, including the day to day business required to make things happen.

I founded Art as Action in 2002 so I could create performances with my friends and dance as BIG as I wanted. It has been an incredible ride the past 17 years, and I am so proud of what the organization has become a place where folks of all abilities are welcome to explore their creative potential.

Has it been a smooth road?
My dance journey has been riddled with injuries, resulting in many identity crises.

How much was I willing to struggle/suffer to dance professionally? What would I do if I could no longer dance? Who would I be?

A “career-ending injury” according to multiple doctors when I was 30 turned out to be the beginning of what I consider my true dance career teaching, directing and performing physically integrative dance.

Now my biggest challenge is the resilience it takes to work in non-profit. It requires agility and nerves of steel to navigate fundraising, grant-writing and run daily operations, all while teaching, choreographing, directing and performing. It requires constant creativity and an open heart to stay energized and effective!

This agility also extends to accessibility. Access and inclusion are an acknowledgment of someone’s humanity and their entitlement to exist in this world, safely and completely. In the same way, dance brings us together, access can and should be an opportunity for connection. Like creativity, access and inclusion are practice and a process that practice requires lifelong learning, admitting wrong-doing, and re-committing to growth. Physically integrative dance is new and we are writing the rules as we go I have to be willing to be uncomfortable, to experiment and even to fail (that is what ART is!)

Tell us more about your organization.
OUR MISSION: Art as Action brings people together at the intersection of dance, (dis)ability and creative potential. Dance has a reputation of being available to a select few those blessed with a particular body type, the privilege of expensive training and the rare talent to master the challenging techniques. Art as Action (AaA) is a physically integrative dance company that is redefining what it means to be a DANCER by embodying the following values. It is possible to honor your own body’s needs/limitations and experience the expansiveness of dance the beauty, healing, and storytelling powers of dance are attainable for everybody; and creativity is a human right.

The Artivist Process is a creative framework developed by AaA that is used to create our annual show. Since 2002, AaA has successfully produced 16 multi-disciplinary shows, unifying diverse creative voices through this collaborative structure.

Company members with and without (dis)abilities contribute piece ideas around a common theme. The process includes milestones/deadlines that support the evolution and quality of work by new and seasoned artists. The workshop-style approach enables performers to provide input and feedback, shaping and strengthening each piece and weaving the show together into a cohesive narrative.

The nurturing, collaborative environment makes even the biggest artistic leap feel possible. Each company member plays a role in the “collective curation,” creating a dynamic show from a wide variety of artistic voices.

AaA is comprised of able-bodied dancers and dancers who experience (dis)ability and/or chronic illness; a mix of technically trained dancers and those who discovered dance later in life. We embrace “physically integrative” as a practice, offering accessibility and inclusion through programming and within the creative process. Adapting and translating choreography in response to physical differences and/or the need for support (using a chair, cane or other devices) creates an opportunity for creativity and collaboration.

Explains company member Carol Cowley, “While disability and depression whispered: “You will never dance again”, AaA literally saved my life. It mattered not that I needed the support of my wheelchair to dance I was welcomed into a community whose members understood the challenges of living with a debilitating condition and the power of dance to heal and challenge stereotypes about (dis)ABILITY. When I dance, I turn away from pain and limitation, toward hope and curiosity, creating a new identity. Dance has given us the power to transform not only ourselves but those who bear witness to our journeys.” Art as Action is the only company of its kind in the Northern Denver Metro area.

Our next show is called “the moving project,” and debuts November 23 & 24 in Broomfield. Reconnect with your Body classes happen twice a week in Broomfield and Arvada.

In 2011, AaA created a new arena for creative expression, launching Reconnect with your Body (Reconnect), dance for people with and without Parkinson’s disease (PD). What started as a small dance class has become a thriving multi-faceted program that includes weekly classes at two locations and community engagement in the Parkinson’s and dance communities throughout Colorado. Artistic Director Sarah Leversee is the teacher, choreographer and facilitator for Reconnect.

Reconnect is a safe space to explore movement and music in ways that are stimulating and creative, experiment with a variety of dance styles and experience a sense of belonging amongst a warm, supportive community.

Carol Jenkins, Reconnect participant with PD, describes the program: “Every dance class, I feel the tether of Parkinson’s loosen. You beckon us to stretch beyond the stiffness of mind and body that inhabits us, binds us. You think we can dance, and so we dance, much to our surprise. Our fellow dancers exude a kind of joy that spreads to us all. PD falls away.”

Reconnect classes happen Mondays 12-1:15 pm at the Colorado Conservatory of Dance (CCD) in Broomfield and Wednesdays from 2:30-3:45 pm at Apex Community Center in Arvada.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
One of my proudest moments came just a few weeks ago.  I have a Reconnect dancer who comes to the Wednesday class religiously.  Every week her husband pushes her wheelchair into the room and sets her up in our circle of dancers.  As her Parkinson’s has progressed she is able to dance less and less, sometimes she sleeps in her chair during class.  Each dancer in the class makes it a point to go say hello to her, offer a hug or squeeze her hand.  A few weeks ago, we were doing a piece of choreography to “Dying Day” by Brandi Carlile that has a lot of stomping and clapping.  It is one of our “greatest hits,” we have done this piece many times over the past few years.  As the music played and everyone started to dance, I watched this dancer come alive.  Something in her muscle memory recovered the movement and she reached her arms to the sky, swayed them back and forth, executing the choreography fully and perfectly from her chair.  Our eyes met across the room and it was like witnessing pure light.    As one of her fellow dancers described, “she was like a dormant flower reaching for the sun.”  I am deeply proud of leading a beautiful community of dancers where this type of awakening is possible.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
There is most certainly a movement towards dance becoming broader and more accessible to more bodies and it’s fantastic.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3001 Industrial Lane #12
  Broomfield, CO 80020
• Website: artasaction.org
• Phone: 7209386069
• Email: sarah@artasaction.org

Image Credit:
Solo photo: Nicholas Caputo
Outdoor Photos: Scott Dressel-Martin
Studio Photos with Teal Backdrop: Annabelle Denmark
Performance Photo with White background: Annabelle Denmark
Performance Photos with Black floor and background: Heather Gray

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