Meet Emily Murawski | Board President of the Dance Alliance of the Pikes Peak Region

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily Murawski and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
In a sense, this is a second career for me. After 35 years of teaching young children around the country, I wanted to do something worthwhile in the community. Retired from teaching I found myself drawn to dance, an interest I had as a young woman when I studied dance. In the subsequent years, even though I was not dancing myself, I attended dance performances wherever I lived and was a supporter of dance in the community.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As head of a working volunteer board, I find the most challenging aspects of the job are working within a tight budget but still bringing the best of dance to Colorado Springs. In addition, so many people are working hard just to maintain their own lives, so getting younger people to serve on our board is a challenge. However, when they do volunteer, they work hard for the organization and become advocates for dance in the community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When friends visit Colorado Springs, I make sure they have a chance to see the best natural sights in our community: • Garden of the Gods– a hike to the Trading Post for lunch,
• Pikes Peak–If time, take the cog rail up to the top of Pikes Peak
• A look at the Broadmoor Hotel–drinks on the terrace of the main building.
• Dinner at Marigolds Cafe

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The above questions really pertain to an individual rather than the organization–Dance Alliance of the Pikes Peak Region–that I would like to highlight in this interview. Yes, I am the Board President of DAPPR, but just the most current in a long line of Board Presidents and Board Members who have given this 47-year-old organization its long life and reputation as a leading arts organization in the Pikes Peak region. A working board runs the organization with the added assistance of a multitude of community volunteers.

Dance Alliance of the Pikes Peak Region has for 47 years been bringing professional world-class dance to the Pikes Peak region. For the last 27 years, we have been offering our community’s most talented young dance students opportunities for scholarships through our annual Esther Geoffrey Young Dancers Scholarship competition. Most recently we have expanded our community outreach by bringing Middle and High students to a professional performance when we bring a dance company to town. Just last month we brought some 300 youngsters to a special matinee performance of DanceAspen through this outreach program that we call PIVOT. For most of those students, it was the first time they had ever seen a live dance performance. What an opportunity for them! Perhaps there was a student or two in that audience who realized that dance may be a calling for them; perhaps they will pivot toward the arts. DAPPR deals in real dreams.

Website: http://dappr.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedanceallianceppr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanceAlliancePPR

Image Credits
Laura Gohl Kayla Coburn Patrick Stevens