Art Beat: High school dancers create works inspired by visual arts

Artists, poets, musicians and dancers are coming together, all sharing their passion for the arts, in a performance to benefit a local drug and alcohol counseling service.

In this week's Art Beat we take a look at a cross artistic performance that is an inspiration to those performing and those who will benefit down the road.

This is the third year the performance Choose Art will benefit Lifeways, the adolescent prevention, intervention and counseling agency that works with more than four thousand students every year in Rapid City, providing alcohol and drug counseling within the schools.

This performance is the culmination of a collaboration that started months ago beginning with visual art created during Red Ribbon week.

From there the student dance company members from the Academy of Dance choreographed and will perform original dance works based off the visual art.

Sara Olivier, Academy of Dance Instructor says "They've been working very, very hard since October. Actually during Red Ribbon Week we had students from all different schools submit visual artwork and literary artwork to our company members and then they took those pieces of artwork and now they're creating dances inspired by them about that artwork so it's a really interesting collaborative process with these students."

The dance works are all student choreographed and some of the students are national honor society of dance arts members. For them being able to create one art from the inspiration of another is a fun challenge and an honor.

Alie Martin, Academy of Dance Student Choreographer says "It gives these students an opportunity to see that what they love to do, which is drawing or writing poetry, that amount to something and I think that's such a huge thing to have what they love to do actually turn into something that means something not only to them, but to the rest of the community."

For both teacher and students, being able to create and share the stage with others all with the intention to help fellow students, impacts all involved.

Sara Olivier says "You'll see dance, you'll see music.

They'll be singers. We'll have spoken word also.

So it's going to be a really interesting cross artistic performance all to benefit Lifeways ."

Alie Martin says "Just knowing that being able to take what I love to do and what doesn't seem like a big deal to me and realizing that it is benefiting someone else. It's such an amazing feeling."

The goal of the Choose Art performance is designed to inspire teens to make drug free decisions and find other outlets to express themselves.

Choose Art Addiction Reframed is on Saturday at 7 at the Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are available in advance or at the door.

The visual artwork that inspired the dance will be displayed in the lobby before the performance.

Choose Art Addiction Reframed is on Saturday at 7 at the Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are available in advance or at the door.

The visual artwork that inspired the dance will be displayed in the lobby before the performance.