Summary

Chapter 1. Outreach and Concerts with FLY Dance Company.
(1999-2006)

Mission: Utilizing street dancers to develop a nationally recognized dance company with unequaled community outreach.

Activities: Presenting a yearly average of 100 school outreach shows and 50 concerts.

Highlights: Reached 20,000 to 30,000 school students each year. Concert venues included the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Jacob's Pillow. Tours in over 30 states and 5 countries.

Chapter 2. Promoting FLY's Style of Dance for Houston-area Youth. (2006- )

Mission:
Promoting dance as an artistic, fitness and character-building activity for youth.

Activities:
FLY KiDS Performances
Workshops for Teachers
Teaching Videos
Summer Dance Intensive
Youth Dance Festivals

Highlights:
First FLY KiDS concert one month after mission officially changed. First training video completed after 2 months. First teachers workshop presented after 3 months. City-wide auditions after 5 months. In the 8th month: FLY KiDS scholarship committee created and 7 scholarships pledged. In the 11th month: First Summer Dance Intensive.

Future Highlights:
Hosting the first FLY KiDS Youth Dance Festival. Creating an expanded, active Board of Directors. Aquiring first significant grants for new mission. Establishing strong relationships with P.E. and dance departments of area schools. Organizing FLY Crew. Finding a permanent home base for FLY KiDS and FLY Crew. Earning revenue through workshops, video sales, and paid FLY KiDS performances to help support the FLYworks mission.

FLYworks History

Chapter 1. Outreach and Concerts with FLY Dance Company

FLYworks was established as a 501 (C) (3) non-profit corporation in 1999 to "help kids dance down the right path." In the early years, its activities focused on working with Houston-area street dancers organizing them into a group to perform locally in outreach shows with positive social messages for schools and to perform as guest artists in contemporary dance concerts as FLY Dance Company.

FLY, as they were better known, was the creation of its choreographer/leader, Kathy Wood and was the outgrowth of her six years of work with local hip hop crews and in area schools. With Kathy's vision of street dance movement put to a wide variety of music with bright costuming and clever staging, FLY brought hip hop to the stage as it had never been seen before.

With the increasing demands on FLY's part-time personnel--performing 50 to 100 local school outreach performances yearly and having more and more concert appearances in local venues including Miller Outdoor Theatre, The Wortham, and The Jewish Community Center, it became appearent that a full-time director and a stable set of dancers in the company would be necessary to carry out this work, and that salaries would be required.

The Houston Endowment, Inc. was very aware of Kathy's work and on receiving our first grant application, they awarded FLYworks a crucial $40,000 grant to help provide that stability. Since the fees for outreach shows were modest and local concert performing fees rare, these grant funds were joined with the revenue earned locally--to employ five dancers and to try to increase FLY's earned revenue by offering its outreach and concert performances nationally.

By marketing to performing arts organizations and venues around the U.S., within 3 years FLY became a nationally recognized dance company with yearly averages of 50 national and international concerts and 100 school outreach performances. Performance venues where FLY's concerts were presented included The Kennedy Center, The Lincoln Center, The Vail International Dance Festival, and Jacob's Pillow as well as many beautiful theaters in over 30 U.S. states and 5 countries.

Along with the continued support of the Houston Endowment, Inc. and the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County, the revenue produced from local and touring performances sustained the FLYworks organization and its mission. Touring FLY brought a lot of attention to the arts in Houston and Texas. FLY was one of the very few touring artists from the state and the only one achieving its numbers of performances and audience sizes--about 30,000 kids in outreach performances and about the same number of performaning audience members each year.

Touring was a heady and artistically rewarding business but very exhausting. After 5 years averaging 6 months on the road while maintaining a local concert season, exhaustion won over will. FLYworks decided it was time to change focus.

Chapter 2. Promoting FLY's Style of Dance for Houston-area Youth.

As of August 2006 the professional FLY Dance Company was disbanded and the FLYworks mission was officially changed to promoting youth dance programs as an artistic, fitness and character-building activity by providing quality dance training and performing opportunities for Houston-area youth.

To accomplish this mission, FLYworks advocates a positive style of theatrical/contemporary dance--clean-cut and age-appropriate--to be presented to the public and to schools through live performances, dance training videos, teacher workshops, youth dance camps, and by hosting youth dance festivals. This dance style is fashioned after the highly entertaining style Kathy created for FLY Dance Company. Its inter-generational and cross-cultural appeal has been proven throughout the U.S. and internationally. Artistic, athletic, spirited, clean, contageous, and fun--kids love it and adults love to see it.

To prove this style of dance is adaptable for youth and to demonstrate its appeal, a new group was created at the beginning of August 2006 and named FLY KiDS. Made up of 15-20 young boy and girl dancers, FLY KiDS had its first performance later that month on Dance Houston in the Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall. The initial performance was followed by others in 2006 including the Kemah Boardwalk, the Bayou City Arts Festival, a Houston Livestock Show Fundraiser, and the Dance Houston's Winter Formal.

In October 2006, FLYworks produced its first dance training video teaching the choreographed piece for youth called "I Believe" and presented its first teachers workshop.

2007 brought city-wide auditions in January, competitions in February and March, with public appearances at the Houston Children's Festival, the Houston Children's Museum, and the Hype Showcase Concert later in March, April, and June respectively rounding out FLY KiDS busy first season.

To engage more Houston kids in the FLY KiDS style of dance, the first Summer Dance Intensive was organized for July 23-27--one week, Monday-Friday, 30 hours of instruction in fun dance technique and choreography with a student concert as the finale, taught by artistic director Kathy Wood and FLY KiDS director Rhonda Valencia with guest artists teaching their specialties in theatrical stagecraft, breaking, poping, waving, and tricks. The FLY KiDS Summer Dance Intensive is an annual event with real growth potential.

To carry out its new mission, FLYworks will seek funding from Houston-area and Texas individuals, corporations, and foundations. FLYworks believes that our youth needs more arts and positive, healthful activities for school and other community organizations and will be advocating it by action and example.

FLY KiDS Performing on Dance Houston's Winter Formal Concert at the Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall.