Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Fort Collins. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Nick George helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Fort Collins, Colorado.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
How Dance Express Builds An Inclusive Stage In Fort Collins
Ever seen a small dance company move a whole city? We sit down with Mary Elizabeth Lenahan of Dance Express, a Fort Collins nonprofit where adults with and without disabilities create performances that feel joyful, honest, and deeply human. What began with her sister Theresa’s love of rhythm has grown into a recognized cultural force, recently honored as a Legend of Dance by the University of Denver’s Dance Archive.
We dig into how Dance Express flips assumptions about what a company should look like. They don’t run a traditional studio or kids’ classes; they build shows, tour workshops to schools and community centers, and craft spaces where every body belongs onstage. Mary Elizabeth shares the heart and logistics behind two anchor events: the December event at the Lincoln Center Magnolia Theater and a May concert filled with dancer-led solos. You’ll hear why authorship matters, how inclusive choreography takes shape, and what it takes to keep the art sharp without losing the warmth that makes it special.
We also explore the unglamorous but essential side of nonprofit arts: fundraising through personal outreach, word-of-mouth marketing, and partnerships that make rehearsals and performances possible without a dedicated studio. Along the way, we talk accessibility, community legacy, and the power of archiving to preserve stories that might otherwise vanish. If you care about inclusive arts, Fort Collins culture, or the simple joy of movement, this conversation offers both inspiration and practical insight.
Join us, share this with a friend who loves dance, and leave a review so more people can discover stories like this. Subscribe for more local voices shaping the arts from the ground up.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today I have the great pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mary Elizabeth, with Dance Express. Mary, how's it going today?
Speaker 2:Good morning, Nick. Yes, it is Mary Elizabeth. Mary Elizabeth Lenahan. And I am doing quite well. We've got gorgeous blue skies with the clouds floating by. Fort Collins is nice today.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is. Tell us all about Dance Express. What exactly is it? I thought I knew what it was just by the name, and then you started mentioning 501c, and I want to hear more.
Speaker 2:So Dance Express is a nonprofit, a 501c3 inclusive dance company in Fort Collins. So we started in 1989, and we were incorporated in 1992. And we it's a we're a tiny dance company, we do performances, we do workshops, we love to teach people to dance, and we love to dance. So we've been around a while.
Speaker 1:How did you get into this line of work?
Speaker 2:My sister, Teresa, was born with Down syndrome, and she loved to dance. She had a natural sense of rhythm, which most people I find with Down syndrome do. And so when I was in Peter Pan in college, she came, and then she'd always dance with me around the dining room, in the living room, at home. So when I moved to Colorado, I uh got my master's in occupational therapy and was able to start found the dance company here then. So it has to do with a love of dance and a love of my sister.
Speaker 1:And I've I've heard that you've won some awards.
Speaker 2:That's right. So this year in 2025, the Dance Archive of Denver University awarded us a legend of dance. And they have been doing that for 21 years. So this is the 21st year that they've done those awards, and Dance Express was picked to be one of the legends of dance. So it's a it's a tremendous honor. Uh, and it's nice to know that we will be remembered even when we're not here anymore. So they they did an interview, like this is a brief interview, but we talked for about two hours, and then they uh are going to keep all that in the archive, and any records will be available at Denver University.
Speaker 1:And don't you guys have some upcoming productions?
Speaker 2:Oh, you are good. Boy, Nick. I'll tell you what, yeah, Dance Express has a concert in December. It's called Holiday Suites. It'll be at the Lincoln Center Magnolia Theater. I'm even going to put the little postcard up in the picture there.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:There it is, all of us dancing around. And it will be at the Magnolia Theater Tuesday night, December 16th, and Wednesday, December 17th for the matinee at one and the show at 7. And tickets actually go on sale next Wednesday, November 6th.
Speaker 1:How often do you do productions like this?
Speaker 2:We do regular productions at least twice a year, and then guest appearances as we've been asked. Um, so generally look for us in December, and then also look for us in May. The May concert, we let the dancers decide what they want to do in a way, which sometimes can be a little challenging because each one has their own music and their own style of dance, and then we say, okay, well, let's do it a little bit differently, but we always have solos by all the dancers in May.
Speaker 1:What are some myths or misconceptions in your line of work that that people may or may not be aware of?
Speaker 2:Well, here's the one thing that is crazy. I say we're a dance company, and people hear that as a dance studio. So they expect us to have dance classes and uh children in the company, but we're not. We're we're four adults, 16 and older, for persons with and without disabilities, and we don't offer any classes except by invitation. So if perhaps you and your group at your job would like to have a dance class, you can contract with us and we would come in and teach something for you, you know, or we go to schools or nursing homes or even any community center we can go to. And we say, Okay, would you like to come to us? And then some groups of people who have like uh disabilities or dementia or something like that can come to where we work out of and we will offer a workshop for them. So that's pretty nice. The one thing that is really amazing is that as in most dance companies, we do not have our own studio, we do not have our own location. So I don't want to say this, but we're kind of homeless. We go, we've gone for 30 some odd years from place to place and um and made it.
Speaker 1:Yes. That's really neat.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So how do you market yourself? How do you how do you get new donors or or stay in touch with the ones that you have digitally? Who who's your target um donor source? And how are you reaching them now digitally?
Speaker 2:Well, I do have to say word of mouth is one of our best means, especially for dancers. But for donors and for patrons, uh I I the board works with me to approach potential donors, and we send something electronically through email or uh regular snail mail and follow up with a phone call. Pretty old school because we are not big, and if we had thousands of people to work with, uh we couldn't do our shows, we couldn't do our job, you know. So uh word of mouth, um holding hands, that type of thing.
Speaker 1:Ever thought about reaching people through podcasting?
Speaker 2:You know, that's why I'm on this podcast because everybody says, Oh, Mary Elizabeth, go ahead and get on a podcast. So here I am. Awesome.
Speaker 1:What do you do for fun when you're not having fun?
Speaker 2:Well, I do like to read. I can read a book in a day. So that's I do.
Speaker 1:That's me.
Speaker 2:And I like to watch the clouds go by in the blue sky. That's really nice too.
Speaker 1:Oh what are all of the ways that people can find uh Dance Express online and social media?
Speaker 2:Dance Express has a website, and it's. And we are on LinkedIn, um, Instagram, we are on Facebook, we're also on Alignable, and in fact, I learned about this new good neighbors podcast from a friend who referred me from Alignable.
Speaker 1:Yes, Alice Moon, right?
Speaker 2:Alice Moon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just I should have said that before we started to make sure in case I was screwing up, but likely her. She's she's been great. Well she knows everybody, right?
Speaker 2:Well, she seems to want to know everybody. So, yeah, and so those are pretty much our our main places to look for us. And today being live on LinkedIn is going to be something new.
Speaker 1:Is there a phone number?
Speaker 2:970-493-2113.
Speaker 1:Well, Mary Elizabeth, we really appreciate you being on the show, and we definitely wish you and Dance Express the very best moving forward.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Nick. Bravo.
Speaker:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfortcollins.com. That's gmpfortcollins.com. Or call 970 438 0825.