According to Julia Wilkinson Manley, CEO & Artistic Director, Colorado Conservatory of Dance (CCD) in Broomfield, Colorado, believes in a better life through dance. Colorado Conservatory of Dance serves a broad spectrum of students every year and is committed to every student regardless of age, ability, aspiration, or socio-economic status. CCD students regularly win top honors at area ballet competitions and gain entry into some of the nation’s most respected college dance programs and summer dance programs. CCD provides its students with high-quality performance experiences that include a year-end Gala performance and CCD’s annual production of The Nutcracker, which brings students together with professional dancers. The school’s Student Company gives upper level students a pre-professional company experience that includes community education performances and culminates in an annual production at the end of each school year. Additionally, CCD provides a summer dance program, which attracts students from across the nation. Additionally, CCD is a non-profit dance education organization.
The Colorado Conservatory of Dance provides the highest quality dance education in both contemporary and contemporary styles. CCD uses dance to foster community, create positive influence and inspire the individual.
They serve more than 400 students per year and are committed to every student regardless of age, ability, aspiration, or socio-economic status. Under the guidance of Julia Wilkinson Manley since 2002, the school is highly respected for providing a nurturing and professional environment for students from pre-school through adult.
In Julia’s opinion, what separates their dance studio from other dance studios is the fact that inside the doors of this longstanding, flagship cultural organization is a deeply caring and nurturing community of exceptional and knowledgeable dance teachers, learned body scientists and therapists, and a diverse collection of students – all committed to a process of learning and teaching ballet that is healthy for both the body and the mind.
Julia is proud of the fact that they offer scholarships to students who would otherwise not be 
able to study dance. This gives CCD the great privilege of watching these students perform roles that they never thought possible. These students also have the possible opportunity to change their lives by attending college for dance.
While the majority of their dance classes focus on Ballet, they also offer classes in Pre-Pointe, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, Stretch, Yoga, Pilates, Boy’s Accelerate, Men’s Strength, Injury Prevention, Body Prep. Additionally, they have several adult classes such as multi levels of Adult Tap, Adult Ballet, Adult Jazz, and Adult Stretch.
In Julia’s judgment, the biggest mistake she sees dancers make involves their self image. Ballet training is built upon hearing and applying millions of detailed corrections. Sometimes dancers think that if they are not instantly perfect, they are a failure – but these corrections are ones that dancers have heard and applied for over 400 years. Corrections are the building blocks of one’s future abilities and possibilities, so take each correction as a special gift and a sign that the teacher believes in what you can become if you were to apply the correction to your work.
Julia has a few goals for CCD. First, they will partner with A Precious Child during our 2016-2017 season as part of their Give Arts program. Also, they hope to increase the number of scholarships they are able to provide so that they can bring dance education into the lives of more children who would otherwise not have the opportunity. CCD was founded in 1992 as a non-profit dance education organization with the goal to fill a need for quality dance education in the north metro area.
The Colorado Conservatory of Dance’s Title 1 Elementary School Partnerships bring year-long arts experiences to more than 3,000 students in six public schools in high-need neighborhoods each year. More than 92% of the students in these schools fall below the federal poverty line, and many are classified as homeless. Particularly for students who come from poverty and distressed home lives, their programming has proven to be successful and impactful. CCD’s two-year residencies provide the opportunity for students to gain confidence through an in-depth process that merges dance with each school’s specific curricular priorities, and because many of these students speak English as a second language, they are better able to understand complex concepts by using their bodies.
Last, but not least, CCD cares about their students’ physical well being. As a result, CCD has two programs to help their students take care of their bodies.
The first program is the fascial distortion model (FDM), developed by Stephen Typaldos, which allows for noticeably effective manipulative treatments for varied afflictions such as frozen shoulders, fractures, and pulled muscles. FDM’s results are measurable, obvious, objective, and immediate. As a national instructor for this method, Dr. Zandi has become an expert in treating musculoskeletal pain.
Secondly, CCD has several physical therapists on site provided by Alpha Rehab of Broomfield who work closely with students of all ages and their families in order to build the healthiest, strongest dancers possible. As part of their dance education, students are encouraged to meet with a physical therapist on a regular basis not only to rehabilitate, but also to prevent injuries from happening, increase mobility and flexibility, and to keep dancers health and happy.
If you would like more information about Colorado Conservatory of Dance, visit their website at ccdance.org, call them at 303-466-5685 or email them at rlong@ccdance.org. You can also “Like” them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, connect with them on Instagram, “Pin” them on Pinterest, and watch them on YouTube.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Julia Wilkinson Manley of Colorado Conservatory of Dance.
