CORE Contemporary Dance

Artistic Director Kelli Leighton founded CORE in 2007 with a small group of dancers tired of "going through the steps" of choreography who wanted to create dance works in which both dancers and audience members are emotionally invested. Ms. Leighton's dance training never encouraged finding her own individual artistry and expression in dance. The feeling of being a "robotic" but technically excellent dancer was unfulfilling, and Ms. Leighton's goal as a director, choreographer, and dance educator is to develop and inspire the passion in each individual dancer, in addition to developing technique. This commitment and passion comes across very clearly to the audience, who always feels something at a CORE performance: joy, pain, triumph, desperation, or inspired by new possibilities. CORE is strongly committed to inspiring the passion of expression in the Sacramento youth through workshop participation and exposure to live performances. CORE encourages students to take the chance to express their own unique creativity and artistic voice in a non-judgmental environment. It is powerful how emotional some students get when given permission to release expectations and limitations and they can just express themselves in their own movement.