Today we’d like to introduce you to Arica Nyamsi
Arica, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In college I switched my major from English to Dance after three semesters of taking dance classes as electives. I had no formal dance training so the switch was pretty audacious but I got hooked on dance as an art form after I took my first dance composition class. At that time, I didn’t think that I had the ability to form a dance company, but I did know immediately that I wanted choreography to be a part of my adult life.
Upon graduation I started Consuming Kinetics Dance Company, or CKDC, as a community project to keep a group of young adult artists dancing while focusing on other careers. In the early years we performed for free and volunteered our time. As a young organization, we had the energy and capacity to respond to the community and met requests and grew the company organically, without really realizing what we were doing.
We started recreational adult classes in St. Louis. Before we came to the market, a few dance companies offered dance classes for professional and pre-professional dancers. We wanted to make dance accessible to everyone. Since I discovered dance later in life, I knew that other adults could benefit from this discovery as well.
We started our youth education program as an opportunity for kids age 3 and over in the region to study dance through a concert dance lens. Our students do not participate in competitions but spend a lot of time preparing for the student dance concert. Students learn about production and function as a cast. Career-minded students can also apprentice with the professional company and audition for our Junior Company. We have a relaxed dress code that doesn’t require families to purchase expensive costumes and warm ups. There is no focus on body type. Every body can dance.
Our company started to professionalize and we began recruiting competitive talent from all over the United States to join our company and mission. We found that our passion for concert dance was to present work with a social or environmental message. We began partnerships with many prominent cultural centers in St. Louis and we hosted many successful community events such as The St. Louis Barre Crawl and The Beat Kill Jam.
Today, we have changed our name to Pack Dance. We are currently in our 16th year and preparing for our Spring Dance Concert, Disruption. We still offer adult dance classes that celebrate dance as an art form, that are open to any person regardless of previous training. We are growing our youth program to include dance for children under the age of three and are excited to roll out new curriculum for the 2025 season.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nonprofit life is one of ebb and flow. We’ve celebrated many years of growth and foraged through hardship years. The pandemic caused a disruption in our growth trajectory, but we’ve been working for many years to recover from those losses and adapt new ways of doing business to prepare for any future setbacks. No organization for- or not-for-profit was untouched by the pandemic, so we consider ourselves lucky to still be serving St. Louis. It would not be possible without the generous support of our donors. We are so lucky to receive support from The Regional Arts Commission, The Missouri Arts Council and have also been the recipients of grants from The Mid-America Arts Alliance, The Dana Brown Charitable Trust, The Veterans United Foundation and more. We appreciate the incredible donors that share our mission of accessibility and know how transformational dance can be in the lives of our community members.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a new mom to a four month old and that has led me to my new project: a babywearing dance class. I hosted a few classes over the holiday season and I’m finalizing my 2025 class schedule. I’m so excited to integrate motherhood into my work as a dancer and choreographer. The babywearing dance class is for any parent who wants to move while wearing their baby. We start with a warm up, learn a dance and then transition to a somatic practice that focuses on strengthening the bond between parent and baby. We create choreography through a movement conversation we have with our babies. We practice tummy time, partner stretching and more. The class so far has been very rewarding and as a bonus, I get to meet a lot of other likeminded parents. I’m excited to offer this work as an individual artist, but will bring some of the classes to Pack Dance as well.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
We learned that in order to be ready to pivot, you must have good organization. It’s easier to halt business the way you are currently functioning and open new channels when your work is organized and you can pick right back up where you left off. We have worked really hard to catch up on our archivals and our internal file management so that we are ready to tackle any curve balls. I’d love to say that we practice inbox zero, but I’m just resurfacing from maternity leave, so it will be awhile before we’re organized in that way again. To anyone reading this whose message I have not yet responded to, I WILL get back to you! 🙂
Pricing:
- Youth Classes range from $65 a month to take one class a week to $175 a month to take unlimited classes each week
- Your first class as an adult is $17.50 After that you can sign up in advance for $20/class or get a class card. Six classes is $100 and 12 classes is $160 We also have 8 and 10 class cards.
- Dropping in at the door without prior reservation is $25 for everyone.
- We also offer FREE classes to People of Color for the entire month of February to celebrate Black History Month
- We also have need-based scholarships for families where money is a barrier
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.packdance.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/packdancestl/ and https://www.instagram.com/ariaunaturale/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/packdancestl and https://www.facebook.com/aricackdc/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/packdance/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/arica-brown/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CKDC
