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60 2O24–2O2 5 GU I D E to Y E L LOW S P R I NG S since,” she said. Providing space not only for awareness of social issues, but also for creative dialogue with the wider community through dance, Blackwell-Truitt said in a 2023 interviewwith the News, was an important part of the events that would become the annual Community Dance Con- cert. She also noted that Antioch College, where she worked for a time, held annual student dance concerts, in which she some- times participated. “[One Nation] did a lot of pieces that spoke about people’s attitudes toward homosexuality, or AIDS — different issues of the time,” she said. “We were trying to promote a dialogue within the community about what they were seeing — and we also wanted to have that community conversation at Antioch.” What started with One Nation and Antioch truly became a community-wide effort in the village, Blackwell- Truitt said, when she considered how many other creative people there were in the community who were not connected to One Nation or to the college. “I thought, ‘What about all the people who are not affiliated with Antioch who are dancers?’” she said. “What kind of venue did those folks have?” After healing from a torn rotator cuff that left her unable to dance for a year, Blackwell- Truitt planned the first Com - munity Dance Concert. “I needed to do something like a dance concert for myself first, because I was being selfish,” she said, with a laugh. “But I thought, ‘Well, I’ll invite some people, because I can’t do it all myself.’” And thus the annual Com- munity Dance Concert was born, becoming a place for dancers to showcase their work in front of their families, friends and neighbors. Since the 1990s, the annual concert has featured dancers of all genres, ages and abilities. Sometimes participants dance alone, and sometimes choreographers will enlist large groups of dancers to perform together. “For me, part of community- building is about how you provide access — there wasn’t really a community performing arts venue for dancers [prior to the Community Dance Con- cert],” she said. “Music is very important to this community, theater is important, visual art is very important, as they should be. But dance is also very important to this community — and part of having a Commu- nity Dance Concert all these years has been translating to the dancers in this community that we think they’re important, and providing a space for danc- ers to value themselves.” And in recent years, Black- well-Truitt has opened up the annual concerts to more than dance, making room for visual, musical and spoken word art- ists as well. “There are people who are not dancers who should still have a platform,” she said. Blackwell-Truitt said in 2022 that it was a long road to re-establishing the Com- munity Dance Concert after its pandemic hiatus; she was just a few weeks away from putting on the 2020 concert when the world slowed to a halt as a result of the pandemic. She had considered producing an online or livestreamed concert with dancers performing in isolation, but like many, felt the burnout associated with the screen- based activities that were so pervasive during the lockdown. GEC GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION Working at the local level to protect the environment since 1990. P.O. Box 553, Yellow Springs 937-305-6735 • info@greenlink.org www.greenlink.org at First Presbyterian Church • 314 Xenia Ave., Yellow Springs Chamber Music inYellow Springs Presenting Our FULL 2024-25 Season Concerts are broadcast at a later date on “ Live and Local ,” Saturday mornings by CMYS’s media sponsor, WDPR 88.1/ WDPG 89.9 • Follow us on & and look for further information in the Yellow Springs News! • 2024 • SUNDAY Sept. 29 | 4 p.m. Trio Zimbalist Acclaimed for its “precision and feverish intensity.” —GREECE ’ S E f S y n SUNDAY Nov. 10 | 4 p.m. Viano String Quartet Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention.” —BOSTON GLOBE • 2025 • SUNDAY Feb. 25 | 4 p.m. Aizuri Quartet “Elegant, inquisitive.” —THE NEW YORKER SUNDAY March 23 | 4 p.m. Akropolis Reed Quintet “Sonically daring,” performing “with charisma and integrity.” —BBC MUS I C MAGAZ I NE SUNDAY April 27 | 4 p.m. 40th Annual Competition for Emerging Ensembles TICKETS & INFORMATION: www.cmys.org or 937-374-8800 • HIKE | 15+ miles of eastern deciduous forest • EXPLORE | Visit with 20+ native educational raptors • ENGAGE | Join in on 60+ public programs annually • SUPPORT | Become a member and keep us strong • ECO-CAMP ’24 | June 10 through August 2, 2024 405 Corry St., Yellow Springs, OH 45387 937-769-1902 | www.glenhelen.org | GLEN HELEN Preserving Nature • Shaping Lives