The Esperanza Dance Project is a community-based collaboration that uses a multimedia dance performance to educate about the issue of childhood sexual trauma and deliver a message of hope, strength and empowerment.
EDP presents school assemblies for high school students. Once EDP is booked for a performance, the Director works with the contact at the school to determine the best possible performance space. Flexibility in terms of space for the performance is available: EDP has performed in cafeterias, black box theaters, meeting rooms, and a variety of other unconventional spaces.
Every student who attends receives a personal copy of our educational curriculum. This curriculum is designed to give teachers, counselors and other school staff members a platform to initiate a discussion about the impact of sexual trauma and the healing process with students.
The curriculum was developed by professionals from the Tucson community in the areas of education, high school counseling, dance, language arts, and behavioral health. Read the curriculum here.
The dancers, who are trained in the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault's Community Prevention Education and Outreach Program, facilitate discussions about the performance and the corresponding curriculum after each performance. The performance, entitled "House of Hope" runs about 45 minutes.
The Esperanza Dance Project was created in 2011 to raise awareness about the prevalence of sexual violence and subsequent trauma, as well as provide practical resources for those who identify with, or know someone who identifies with, these experiences.
​
By using a mix of media, including dance, music, live poetry and visual art, the Project has developed a high school assembly entitled "House of Hope," to give high school students an accessible way of understanding sexual violence as it relates to their everyday lives.
​
The project identifies tools for students to use in the event that they, or someone they know, experience sexual trauma. Ultimately, the goal of the Project is to breathe hope and courage into the lives of those who have experienced the trauma of sexual violence.
This project is supported in part by the Arizona Commission on the Arts which receives support from the State of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts. www.azarts.gov
The Esperanza Dance Project is supported in part by the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona funded by the City of Tucson and Pima County http://artsfoundtucson.org
