5th Element Center for Dance

5th Element Center for Dance is a nonprofit dance studio that provides dance, academic, and social emotional resources to youth in Aurora, CO with no cost barrier. Our mission is to foster personal & artistic development through the hip hop arts for youth to grow into compassionate, knowledgeable, and expressive artists who are connected to themselves & their communities. We envision a society in which the waves of culture and the arts have uplifted the expression of the most historically silenced people. 

Our core values encompass research, praxis, and experience to ensure we are providing comprehensive support to our community.

• Trauma-informed approach: We value meeting ourselves and others where they are at in a way that is safe, empowering, and considerate of potential histories of trauma. 
• Culturally responsive education: We value students’ cultural strengths and perspectives and the ways they inform and enhance our pursuit of knowledge.
• Equity: We value the voices, experiences, and prosperity of historically silenced people and believe that their lives (not just their labor or marketable cultural products) matter. 
• Interdependence: We value community and its importance in elevating the present, envisioning the future, and honoring the past of individuals, groups, and societies. 
• Diversity: We value difference as a catalyst for growth and expansion and a door to connection. 
• Expression: We value the healing that results from reflection and expression and see dance as a common vehicle through which these take place.