Nickerson-Rossi Dance (NRD) began as the internationally touring professional contemporary/modern dance company. Since its non-profit incorporation in 2016, NRD has continued to provide educational, therapeutic, and community engagement dance programming on a larger scale to make greater impact. These programs include, but are not limited to:

The “uNdeRstanD” outreach program (since 2012) provides all communities of diverse backgrounds from the race, age, gender, sexual orientation, cultural, health status, and cultural background an opportunity to experience dance on various levels. NRD has partnered with Palm Springs Unified School District, Riverside County Office of Education, the LBGTQ Center in Long Beach, the Flourish Foundation, and Project Home. These programs use dance as therapy and as a tool to express one’s emotions when words cannot be found. These programs included no cost master dance classes to inner-city high schools and rural communities, educational forums with past scholarships in dance, no cost auditions for college scholarships in dance, and free admission to a professional performance featuring the NRD Company.

The Palm Springs Dance Academy (PSDA) (since 2020) is the official school of the NRD. The Academy’s mission is to provide comprehensive dance education for pre-professional dancers ages 12-18. PSDA nurtures and stimulates intellectual, artistic, and technical creativity.

PSDA provides Intro to Dance for ages 5 – 11 and Adult Dance Classes.

The Apprenticeship Program (since 2012) provides comprehensive dance education for pre-professional dancers ages 18 – 24 to train among industry leaders in a curriculum of in-depth studies that include; concert dance, theory, composition, and pedagogy.

Annual Palm Springs International Dance Festival (since 2016). This program blends an educational, therapeutic, and outreach programming into a 4-day festival that celebrates the diverse culture within dance. Multiple scholarship opportunities and free pubic programming are provided for an equitable opportunity to experience the art of dance.