Where Every Child Discovers the Art of the Possible
Twenty-five years ago, we witnessed something extraordinary: children who believed they couldn't do anything discovering they could do everything. What started as a simple idea—that every child deserves access to transformative arts education—has become a movement that empowers young people to believe anything is possible.
This is the story of Celebrate the Beat—and how dance becomes a pathway toward success.
A Vision Takes Root
In 2000, we saw Colorado children facing challenges that limited their potential: isolation, lack of confidence, limited access to quality arts education. We knew that movement could change everything—not just bodies, but minds and hearts. We brought professional teaching artists and live musicians directly into schools, creating experiences where every child could participate, regardless of financial means, background, or ability. What happened next changed lives.
"Growing up I always wanted to dance, but I had two immigrant parents, who barely spoke English and didn't have the resources to put me in dance class. I started with Celebrate the Beat in the third grade, at a time when I needed to express myself in a creative way. If anyone ever asks me where I attribute my success to today, I will always find a way to include Celebrate the Beat into the conversation. The work ethic that CTB instilled in me has now led me to Colorado State University to study journalism and media with dance." - Kimberley Mayorga, CTB Alumni
The Transformation Unfolds
Two professional teaching artists enter a classroom with live music, creating magic that transforms everything. Our musicians don't just play—they score each moment like a film, adding beats when children take brave steps, crescendos when the whole class moves as one. Every child participates. No fees. No auditions. No one left behind.
In classrooms across Colorado, we're addressing the challenges children face: loneliness affecting half of young people, academic struggles, and physical health concerns. Through 45-minute classes that blend vigorous movement with positive messaging, we're building resilience one beat at a time.
The Vision Expands
What starts in one classroom extends beyond the walls of that room. Teachers report that 95% of students perform better in their regular classrooms after CTB. Children who struggled to find their place discover they can lead. Students carry confidence from dance into math, friendships, and challenges they never thought they could face.
Some join our after-school teams, performing at venues like the Denver Art Museum, Ford Amphitheatre, and even the White House. Others return as mentors. Professional dancers like Rhianna Cranston are so inspired by CTB's mission they pursue careers in dance education, earning full scholarships to programs like University of Colorado Boulder to continue the work.
"I feel my CTB experience impacted me tremendously. It changed my social life permanently and helped me develop the strength and mental ability to pursue sports and live an energized lifestyle. I'm forever thankful." - Rebecca, CTB Alumni (Returned to teach Summer 2025)
Your Vision, Our Future
Over 25 years, we've reached 50,000+ children across Colorado. Our vision extends far beyond—to every child who needs to discover their own art of the possible.
When you support Celebrate the Beat, you're investing in that vision. You're funding the breakthrough moments where children realize they can achieve anything. You're providing the live musicians who score each discovery and the teaching artists who see potential in every child. At a time when school budgets are being cut and arts programs are disappearing, you're ensuring high-quality dance education remains accessible to all children who need it most.
The Beat Continues
Every child who discovers they can dance discovers they can do anything. They carry that knowledge into adulthood, into careers, into their own families and communities. They become the confident leaders, creative thinkers, and resilient individuals our world needs.
"It instilled confidence in me and made me feel I could be myself and do whatever makes me happy." - Kaela, CTB Alumni
Your support writes the next chapter of this story. Together, we're creating a future where every child in Colorado knows the art of the possible—where they feel the beat of their own unlimited potential.
Join us in choreographing a future full of confident, empowered children.
Because when children discover they can dance, they discover they can change the world.
Celebrate the Beat (CTB) provides in-school and after-school dance programs that improve childrens’ physical health and well-being, inspire them to believe in themselves, and establishes a standard of excellence that positively impacts every aspect of their lives. For youth-at-risk who have little access to a high-quality arts education, CTB’s dance curriculum can be life-changing, teaching them not just the art of dance, but the art of the possible.
In 2000, Tracy Straus, a Tony Award winner and Artistic Associate at National Dance Institute (NDI) in New York, founded Celebrate the Beat (CTB). Ms. Straus had the dream of bringing arts education to under served schools of Colorado. She began with 120 school children from four different schools in Colorado as an outreach program for the Aspen-Santa Fe Ballet. In 2004 Ms. Straus established CTB as an independent nonprofit company closely affiliated with NDI as an associate organization. Ms. Straus' work with NDI and its founder, Jacques d'Amboise, prepared her to grow a teaching organization that brought the arts directly into schools that were willing to integrate dance into the curriculum and include all children, not just a select few. By 2017, in close collaboration with teachers and school officials, CTB grew to successfully bring its program to over 4,000 children annually in several Colorado counties, summer programs in each of those areas as well, and numerous schools in Nayarit, Mexico.
CTB has collaborated with individuals such as cellist Yo Yo Ma, former NYC principal ballet dancers Damian Woetzel and Heather Watts, and current NYC ballet star Misty Copeland. CTB has also partnered with organizations like the Vail International Dance Festival, the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Colorado Legacy Foundation and the Healthy Schools Summit, the Colorado Association of School Executives, and the Crested Butte Music Festival. In 2013 and 2016 Celebrate the Beat students from the Adams 14 school district were invited to perform for the Colorado Education Initiative's Healthy Schools Summit, demonstrating our successful program to over 800 of Colorado's leading educators, including the Lieutenant Governor of Colorado.
Organization name
Celebrate the Beat
other names
CTB
2004
Tax id (EIN)
20-0670553
Category
Education
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Colorado State Tax Credits
Colorado Child Care Credit
Address
5933 S Fairfield StMailing
PO Box 6381Denver County, CO, US