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National Recognition for everybody dance!

In November 2014, The Gabriella Foundation’s everybody dance! program received a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards from First Lady Michelle Obama. Awards are given to outstanding after-school programs that exemplify how arts and humanities programs outside of the regular school day enrich the lives of young people by teaching new skills, nurturing creativity, and building self-confidence.

“You teach kids more than just skills in the arts and humanities – you light a fire in them; you help them grow emotionally and socially. And as all of you know, that has an impact on our kids. Not just their success in the arts and in the humanities, but their success in school and life.”
– Michelle Obama

Scale, Impact, Sustainability

The Scale, Impact and Sustainability of our Work

More than 4,400 students served annually at 23 sites with nearly 300 hours of weekly instruction. Over 90% of everybody dance! students surveyed report higher levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy, enhanced physical fitness, and an improved sense of being supported by family and the community. On average, students stay with our program for 8 years and over 30% study more than one dance form. 100% of everybody dance! graduating seniors attend college, many the first in their families to do so.

Demographics Report

Support from our donors...

makes it possible for our program to thrive.

$2500 Funds instruction for 50 dance classes
$1000 Sends two students to SummerDance Day Camp
$500 Rents a bus for a student field trip
$200 Pays for a student's training for one year

Wow!...We were all so impressed and magnificently entertained by your talented and gifted multi-age dancers...(T)he strength and variety of dance training you masterfully provide was clearly evident...you confirm the rumors I have heard, that you are a remarkable organization, based on high expectations, rigor and consistent results.

- Richard Alonzo, former LAUSD Local Superintendent -
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changing the lives of students

“When I dance, I really feel confident and able to express myself.” – Mary Kate

Mary Kate started at GCS in Kindergarten. She was very quiet and astonishingly shy. Because of her shyness, in early elementary school, she struggled academically and wasn’t as successful in the classroom as everyone knew she could be. Teachers would ask her questions, but she would be very hesitant, almost afraid, to respond. “I felt that someone was going to laugh at me, or make me feel bad if I answered a question incorrectly. They might say, ‘Oh, she doesn’t know that.’”

It was then discovered that Mary Kate had an identified learning disability, but she happened to always be very capable and very engaged in dance from a very young age. When auditions were held for Alice in Wonderland, it was thought that Alice would be played by an older, more experienced ballet dancer. It was Mary Kate’s first audition and she wanted to be Alice. “But when she saw all of the bigger girls in higher ballet, she said, ‘Oh mom, I think we should go back.’”

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thank you to our 2017 donors!

$100,000+
  • California Community Foundation
  • The Carl & Roberta Deutsch Foundation
$50,000 to $99,999
  • The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation
  • Dwight Stuart Youth Fund
$25,000 to $49,999
  • Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation
  • Paula and Luppe Luppen
  • Los Angeles County Arts Commission
  • Joseph Drown Foundation
  • Kathy and John Kissick
  • Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation
View all 2017 Donors

Donor Spotlight

Paula & Luppe Luppen

Paula & Luppe Luppen

Our relationship with The Gabriella Foundation began because the Axelrad family was an important part of our son’s water polo “family” at school.

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