Oakland dance company founder harnesses power of Black art to uplift the community

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An Oakland woman has brought the joy of dance and an appreciation for African American culture to performers and audiences for 52 years.

Artistic director Deborah Vaughan crafts diverse performances that bring people together. During the Black Arts movement in the 60s and 70s, she harnessed that power to bring something new to her native Oakland.

“I think that art has power,” said Vaughn. “We need art. It changes people’s minds, people’s hearts. People think differently when you’re involved in the arts.”

Vaughn and two fellow dancers startedDimensions Dance Theaterin 1972 to teach and perform dance that reflects the history and experience of African Americans.”And I’ve seen how art has helped people while they’re on their own path, for people to discover who they are as people and what they can contribute,” Vaughan explained.

She incorporates traditional and contemporary styles from the African diaspora. From her travels to Africa, she brings back ideas and connections between dances there and those in the U.S.

“It may not have been from a spiritual aspect, but it was more about survival and uplifting our communities through music and dance,” Vaughan described.

In addition to the dance company, Dimensions Dance Theater teaches several hundred young people a year in its Rites of Passage program from ballet and tap to jazz and hip hop. Students aged 8 to 18 get free instruction in Oakland public schools or low-cost after-school classes at the nonprofit’s dance studio at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts.

There’s also a youth ensemble for 12- to 19-year-olds and a paid internship or apprenticeship for those pursuing an arts career.

Denice Simpson has been with Dimensions for nearly 40 years, first as an apprentice then as a performer and teacher. She credits Vaughan with giving her opportunities to grow her passion, appreciate her culture, and perform overseas.

“She’s been a mentor, mother, friend in and out of the studio,” SImpson said. “I don’t know what my life would be without her or Dimensions.”

“That makes me feel proud, also,” Vaughan said.

DImensions Dance Theater formed a nonprofit collective with nine other arts programs – the Malonga Arts Collective – that promotes the arts.

So for connecting performers and audiences to African American culture through Dimensions Dance Theater for more than 50 years, this week’s Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Deborah Vaughan.

Dimensions will showcase its students at a free performance on Sunday, Dec. 8. For more information, go todimensionsdance.org.

Sharon Chin is a general assignment reporter who also profiles Jefferson Award winners for KPIX 5 Eyewitness News. Since she joined KPIX 5 in 1997, Chin has reported everything from fires to features, from politics to perspective pieces, but she feels a special sense of pride bringing viewers the stories of Jefferson Award winners. She herself feels inspired as she shares the stories of our community’s heroes.

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