| PASS THE BUCK!    CrazyCee Productions
Presents OUR BIG SISTER FAMILY! Soul Sistaz En Company providing programs for the less fortunate, pre- teens and teenage females In the form of URBAN ART CULTURE!  Ms. Carlena Gourdine, President/Founder / Owner & Artistic Director of CrazyCee Productions, LetzDance Academy & Soul Sistaz En Company CrazyCee Productions, LetzDance Academy & Soul Sistaz En Company are companies whose mission is to train, empower & educate our young female & male dancers through the exciting medium of urban dance. Furthermore, opening the door of opportunity to young people allowing them to grow and flourish through our urban art culture. We believe in every young women is the innate potential for her to change her mind, attitude and life. Thus, changing the world in a positive and meaningful way. We are here to pave the way for our youth in turn having them follow in our footprints and passing it on to others. The core mission of CrazyCee Productions & Soul Sistaz En Company teaches & trains urban dancers (girls, boys and young adults) who would not otherwise have the opportunity to train in a professional setting. We are not a studio or a typical dance class. We provide services that most don't, won't and can't! We provide real authentic urban dance training and its meaning. Our dancers not only receive the proper training, but the knowledge about what it takes to get their start in the industry. With us there's no traditional recital. They receive technique & urban understanding; along with hip hop history and how it was intended for us to embrace it. Oh, and let's not forget LOTS of challenges & fun! Hip Hop (urban) influence has not always been positive, especially for women. Ironically, the same hip hop culture I loved, danced to everyday and motivated me in a positive, uplifting way has turned into negative depictions of women. For instance, music videos exploit and portray women as none other than sexual objects. Most rap lyrics promote violence, misleading notions of women and nonsense. I could not ignore this any longer. Urban dance: is a medium by which students can learn a disciplined art form while expressing themselves creatively, all the while, building self esteem, self respect, sisterhood, developing a focus, physical fitness, support systems, confidence, education and connecting them to opportunities that open future doors through performance and production that exposes them to wider opportunities. I began focusing my energy increasingly on teaching "want-to-be" dancers, especially on girls and young women. My job is to demonstrate to them that real urban dance is not about portraying you as a sexual object in any way! In our training program, we teach our students authentic urban dance movements and techniques that do not require them to lose self-respect, but to display confidence and strength within. · CrazyCee Productions, LetzDance Academy & Soul Sistaz En Company provides professional instruction in a training facility setting that allows each dancer to grow in their careers, urban art culture, musical theater and mastering the art of dance. · Every CCP, LDA & SOUL SISTAZ EN COMPANY and Affiliate Mentors choreographers and instructors make it a point to be a strong role model and develop a close bonding relationship with all of our students. · CrazyCee Productions also connects children, teens and young women to outside dance programs that can assist them in their advancement training in their daily lives. These programs advocate proper technique, control, discipline, education, industry opportunities & resources, etc. CrazyCee Productions, Soul Sistaz En Company in the past have partnered with Baltimore City Parks and Recreation Department providing dance programs such as "At risk teens" in Baltimore's neediest neighborhoods. We were also selected for seven summer & winter 8-week programs for the Baltimore Police Athletic League (P.A.L.). We participated as the exclusive urban dance provider with our "At risk teens" urban dance program in 2005. In 2005, we teamed up with BCL (Baltimore County Libraries) and D.A.R.E. providing them with exclusive urban dance demos, master classes, workshops & mentor programs. The participating schools were Golden Ring Middle School and Bryn Mawr School for girls. We have been booked for countless productions, performances, organizations & school functions in the state of Maryland in 2004 - 2005 bringing the benefits of urban dance to even more youth in & out of New York state & abroad. Ms. Carlena Gourdine, a native New Yorker, is the proud Owner, founder and president of CrazyCee Productions, LetzDance Academy and Soul Sistaz En Company. She embraces the very philosophy of inner strength and solid resolve for which she teaches her students. Though Ms. Gourdine has mastered many countless styles of dance she is a pioneer in the arena of Hip Hop dancing, urban culture and choreography for over 15 years continuing to go strong. She has worked with renowned groundbreaking Hip Hop pioneers from Russell Simmons to MTV. She learned first hand about the power of the Hip Hop generation's ability to influence the masses of young urban youth. Ms. Gourdine decided she would not allow the negative messages of rap lyrics and the demeaning depiction of women in videos to deduce a generation of musical and cultural expression into one cultural sound bite of self-hatred, violence and misogyny. Ms. Gourdine founded her exclusive urban musical theater programs under LetzDance Academy with a specific emphasis of teaching pure urban art culture to women of all ages. Inspired by her own journey as a young woman growing up in New York City, her for-profit company spiraled off into Soul Sistaz En Company. The non-profit entity, formed to address the multitude of issues facing the young female dancers she taught. At her many training locations, Ms. Gourdine trains a diverse group of dancers ranging from 7 years - 30 years of age. Along with her talented team of professional choreographers. CrazyCee Productions contributes a significant amount of professional services to helping girls and young women in the community by respect, proper meanings & understanding of real urban dance. Today more than ever our youth & young women need our help in helping them to self determine their futures. With the emphasis on what is going on abroad, we cannot afford to lose the silent wars occurring in our own neighborhoods. We invite you to search your heart and help us with our on going work, to keep our doors open so that many more children, teens & young females can embrace the day and dance as if it is their last chance. In closing, it is disheartening to learn that in Baltimore Maryland alone single women head nearly half of all households with children, who are left home alone with no proper guidance, activity or goals. A lot of single mothers fall at or below the poverty line. Many of these women are young, under educated, alone, and easily fall prey to domestic violence, drugs, and hopelessness, which eventually becomes a repeat cycle. The young men & women that we serve in CrazyCee Productions, LetzDance Academy, Soul Sistaz En Company come from similar backgrounds, or upscale families with no knowledge of or education on or about African American & Latin culture. This is why CrazyCee Productions is so important to all communities to fill that gap that separates us. The best way to do this is this countries universal language… "DANCE"! CCP's dancers are finding hope through the strong bonds they have formed at our companies. On behalf of the children, teens and young men & women that we serve daily, we at CrazyCee Productions, LetzDance Academy, & Soul Sistaz En Company, appreciate your support and help Remember, no gift is too small, give what you can; we are extremely grateful for your support! Knowledge is power; please spread the word! |
