Threads Dance Project was founded with the mission to examine, expose, and celebrate the threads that connect us. Threads believes that dance is the most direct means to communicate truth, no matter how difficult or mundane. Threads’ mission is grounded in the belief that at our core, all humans want and deserve love, respect, and positive connection to others.

Founded in 2011 by choreographer and educator Karen L. Charles, Threads Dance Project is a dance organization that produces performances, community programs, dance training, and distributes resources through creative and employment opportunities for dance artists. Threads’ mission drives the organization’s culture and programming. At their community home, Threads Dance Nexus, they have created a space where the diverse community can learn dance, experience dance, create dance, and connect to dance. Threads does this through their holistically based Nex/Gen-Youth Dance Project offerings and via workshops and classes for adults to connect movement to wellbeing, joy, and technical excellence. Threads’ programming aims to eradicate societal inequities by providing discounted rentals to BIPOC creators and arts organizations looking for space to move; providing need-based scholarships to youth desiring to participate in programs; and through their Tapestries Emerging Choreographer Program. Threads amplifies the experiences of marginalized groups through dance by sharing “human justice” stories—stories showing the universal complexity of humanity. Threads increases access to power and further progress towards a more equitable and just society by sharing these stories with the broadest possible audience and connecting underserved artists to existing institutions.

Jerome Foundation supports Threads Dance Project’s Tapestries program. Tapestries is a professional commissioning program for early-career Minnesota-based choreographers with a special emphasis on BIPOC and female-identifying choreographers. The program’s goal is to increase the diversity of voices creating in the dance performance space both locally and nationally. Over five months, three choreographers receive a commissioning fee and full production support for the development of their work, including access to a costume designer and lighting designer. During their residency, artists work with Threads’ company of professional dancers to develop a new work. This is a unique opportunity for choreographers to develop an ensemble work with an established dance company. Artists receive mentorship and guidance from Threads’ Executive/Artistic Director, Karen Charles, and engage in feedback exchange with the other artists in their cohort.