The other evening, I attended a fundraiser for Smashworks Dance. Smashworks Dance is a New York based dance company founded and directed by choreographer Ashley McQueen. The company advocates for women’s empowerment through the performing arts, educational programming, and community outreach. They make dance accessible and inspire audiences to take action through their performances onstage and in site-specific environments. They view artistic expression as power-smashing stereotypes and promoting dance as a unifying and confidence-building practice for everyone. I was very impressed that Ashley and her dancers had created a Dance Badge for the Girl Scouts (being an ex-Girl Scout myself 🙂 as well as presently working on a project unifying dance, humanism, and drones). Here are some photos from the event! Ashley McQueen (founding director) to the right, and Artist in Residence Louisa Pancoast to the left. Right now, Smashworks needs funding for their new dance drone project to match a promised $20,000 pledge. For information go to SmashworksDance.com Click HERE and donate if you believe in freedom, humanity, and the art of dance to express it as only dance can. Readers may also enjoy reading Thunderbird Dancers, and the Fall for Dance Festival.