Open Arms Dance Project creates greater joy and compassion with dance that opens hearts, minds, and arms.
Open Arms Dance Project is a community of dancers with diverse bodies, ages, and abilities, creating powerful art together in Boise, Idaho since 2008. As a dance company with a range of physical and neuro-diversity, Open Arms Dance Project has a mission to create greater joy and compassion with dance that opens hearts, minds, and arms.
You can find us performing everywhere from city sidewalks to main stages, including the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts. We carry our art and advocacy to school age audiences through our Upstanders with Open Arms anti-bullying program and Spiraling, our new one hour compassion building program for middle and high school students, both in partnership with the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights.
WATERWAYS
Open Arms Dance Project’s final performance of our 25.26 season!
May 7, 2026
The Dixon | 3300 Chinden Blvd, Garden City, ID
WATERWAYS includes collaborations with Boise Women’s Chorus and Boise High School Orchestra, as well as live video projection, audio description & ASL interpretation. All this flows together with the joyful, compassion evoking movement of our intergenerational and inclusive dance company.
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Family Boogie Classes!
TRICA, 1406 Eastman St., Boise, ID 83702
Saturdays 1/17 and 1/31
10:30-11:15am
$10-18 - Sliding scale tuition - pay what you can!
Do something Joyful in January!
Family Boogie classes are designed for toddlers through preschool age kids plus a grown up. But new babies up to elementary age siblings are all welcome to join the fun. Kids of any age who want to be silly and have fun dancing really should be in this class!
And these are no ordinary dance classes. In addition to being welcoming to ALL, these classes will incorporate emotional regulation tips, meaningful connection across generations, fun and uplifting music, and movement games that will help grown ups find your inner child and everyone find their creative flow. All hearts will be warmed with joyful movement!
Join us for a single class or both classes. Inclusive and intergenerational - just like our dance company! All ages and abilities are welcome & no prior dance experience is needed. Bring grandparents, moms, dads, siblings (only $5 per sibling/extra kid!), cousins, aunts, uncles, friends & neighbors!
These classes are tons of fun and full of opportunities to JOYFULLY connect grown ups with their kiddos through fun boogieing!
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March First Thursday at JUMP
JUMP’s Pioneer Room
March 5, 2026
Come enjoy the premier of the 3 way collaboration between Open Arms Dance Project, Boise Women’s Chorus, and Boise High School Orchestra!
Experience flowing water themed pieces through the full sensory delight of live singing, music, and dance!
DANCE FILMS
“This dance is about how I envisioned my life, in a spirit of sharing and hope, during a time of grief. It is based on a poem I wrote in 2004, titled, ‘How Should My Life Go?’”
- Gail C. Hawkins, age 75
Root. Grow. Release. Repeat.
Root, Grow, Release, Repeat features the solo choreography of 12 Open Arms Dance Project dancers woven together by Artistic Director Megan Brandel and Cinematographer April Frame. It was created during online rehearsals in the Fall of 2020 and filmed at the Idaho Botanical Garden in Boise, Idaho. Many dancers made full artistic choices in creating their own solos, while the natural, non-choreographed movement of other dancers was celebrated. The descriptive, poetic script makes this film accessible for viewers who are blind or low vision and adds a layer of artistry for all viewers.
“I made this dance because Open Arms makes me feel very awesome.”
- Keely Burns, age 25
“I created this solo because many of us had to “slow down” this past year. I wanted to show that in slowing down my hope is you find peace. Feel the air…breath.”
- Shirley Hurley, age 64
Flipping the Script
Go behind-the-scenes of the Open Arms Dance Project in Boise as it rehearses for its biggest concert ever, and then performs. You’ll also meet some of the members of this inclusive, multi-generational company, which includes dancers with disabilities and others who identify as able-bodied.
I love dance. I just love the ability you have to express yourself through movement.”
- Heather Marie
Box Me Inside/Outside the Box
Box Me Inside/Outside the Box: A Movement Memoir, March 2020-March 2021 was conceived in June 2020 and created during a 10-day artist residency at Surel’s Place in Garden City, Idaho, in October 2020. It was completed and filmed in March 2021 in Ms. Brandel's home office/dining room in Boise and the Owyhee mountain range outside of Marsing, Idaho. Essential collaborators in creating this piece were April Frame, Jessie Proksa, and Anne Boyles.
Movement invention came from reoccurring pandemic themes: -touching surfaces with body parts other than hands, -helping kids with schoolwork, -home projects, -fighting to concentrate in a noisy home, -massive changes, -constant adapting, -quarantining/freezing -starting again, -escapes into Nature and creative projects.
“When I’m dancing I feel free to express my emotions without fear of being judged.”
- Heather Marie, OADP Dancer & Ambassador
“It makes me happy that I’m dancing.”
- Hava Fisherman, OADP Dancer & Ambassador
Donations to Open Arms Dance Project help provide scholarships, costumes, and cover operational costs that the sliding scale tuition is not able to cover. Some seasons nearly half our dancers are given scholarships. All donations support us in fulfilling our mission of creating greater joy and compassion in the community with dance that opens hearts, minds, and arms.
Thank you so much!
Learn more about our mission, our vision, and how we work
Learn more about how we came to be
Learn more about our anti-bullying program in partnership with the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights
Enjoy a gallery of our award-winning dance films
