Associate Dance Professor Ali Woerner encourages her communities to step into their comfort zones through dance. As founder of Rochester’s professional dance company, Take Root, Woerner partners with local organizations to develop specialized programs. “The arts, movement and dance, are for everyone,” Woerner says.

Associate Professor of Dance and Founder of Take Root Ali Woerner

Most recently, Woerner has developed Soulful Steps, a dance community for those affected by cancer. The program is woven from the foundation of Gilda’s Club Detroit, a support group for cancer patients and survivors that allows anyone in any place in their cancer journey to follow a movement-motivated dance routine.

“Through stretching, movement phrases and sequences, participants not only find joy, energy and positivity but also a connection to others,” Woerner says. 

Gilda's Club Detroit is a cancer support community

From a young age, Woerner flourished on a dance floor, eventually performing throughout the world. Her parents encouraged her to tie her talents and teaching together. “Finding new ways to not only offer what you know, but learn from others … can help the community grow and, in turn, grow yourself,” Woerner says. In this rhythm, her dedication to dance has rippled past her own career and into the lives and wellbeing of others.

“I am a firm believer that those of us who are arts educators, specifically through community service, cannot simply connect with those who may fit the mold of our medium,” she says. 

Soulful Steps is offered throughout the summer every fourth Monday from 10-11 a.m. at Durfee Innovation Society in Detroit or over zoom. It is free to the public, and registration is open

Ali Woerner visits the Gilda Club Detroit at the Durfee Innovation Society, where Soulful Steps classes take place