Raising the Barre to Fundraise for Open Heart Kitchen

LIVERMORE, CA — Raising the Barre, a non-profit organization seeking to better the Tri-Valley community through dance, is excited to announce their 3rd annual Dance for a Difference Benefit Concert. The performance will benefit Open Heart Kitchen and will take place at the Bankhead Theater in Downtown Livermore on Sunday, April 28th at 3pm. For tickets visit lvpac.org.

The members of Raising the Barre are aged 13-18 years old and seek use dance as a positive force to better their home communities in Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon. The benefit concert will feature Raising the Barre members alongside professional dancers from ConDanza and Tiffany’s Dance Academy in a varied and exciting performance that showcases every style of dance. An exciting addition to this year’s concert, Raising the Barre is proud to welcome the East Bay All Stars High School Jazz Band for a live music collaboration.

“It is a dream come true of mine to see young dancers working for their communities through events like Dance for a Difference,” said Tiffany Henderson, founder of Raising the Barre and Tiffany’s Dance Academy, “Our young members are an inspiration to me for the good they seek to do. Open Heart Kitchen is a wonderful organization we’ve had the privilege of working with for several years and I’m thrilled that we can use dance to better the lives of those in our community.”

Open Heart Kitchen is the largest hot meal program of its kind in the Tri-Valley, serving prepared, nutritious meals 7 days a week throughout Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore. They serve people in need through three programs: the hot meal program, the senior meal program, and the children's weekend bag lunch program. Last year, Open Heart Kitchen served more than 328,00 meals to people from all walks of life, including the underemployed, seniors, and children and families.

"On behalf of Open Heart Kitchen, we are delighted to be the recipient of this year's Raising the Barre benefit," says, Heather Greaux, Executive Director of Open Heart Kitchen. "The dancers from Raising the Barre are compassionate, inspiring young leaders and volunteer with Open Heart Kitchen as well."

Raising the Barre was founded in 2013 by Tiffany Henderson with the goal to provide Middle and High School aged students the opportunity to change their world through dance. The program is based on 4 pillars of Character and Service - Leadership, Responsibility, Compassion and Confidence. Along with participation in community service projects, the students also attend seminars on etiquette and public speaking.

Tiffany's Dance Academy Professional Division was established in 2017 and aims to advance students’ artistic development through advanced training in ballet, modern and jazz technique. The program is designed for high school aged students with a strong background in the three disciplines. Our emphasis is on strong technique as a base from which to build expansive movement qualities and confident performance. All of this takes place in an environment that’s exciting and inspiring to our dancers who improve not only technically but also grow artistically.

ConDanza began in Stockholm, Sweden in 2005, officially moving operations to Tucson, Arizona in 2009; and now, expanding their work to Livermore, CA. Their mission is to advocate for the art form of dance. In addition, they continue to build on their vision - to enrich the cultural and educational fabric of Livermore - by establishing a semi-professional and professional level dance company. Here, young, local dancers collaborate with professional dancers, choreographers and dance educators from around the country, to share contemporary and classical dance within our community and beyond.

The East Bay Jazz High School All-Stars is an after-school program for high-caliber musical performance and education for high school jazz musicians. East Bay Jazz's two ensembles, big band and combo, rehearse on a weekly basis and frequently perform between January to June. In East Bay Jazz students develop their skills within the jazz idiom, gain real-world performance experience, and share our love of music with the East Bay community and beyond. East Bay Jazz's educational programs are fully supported by the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center.