Episode 128: Cheri Orr of Jubilee Arts Collective [Belhaven Dance Alumni – Part One]
We are kicking off our Belhaven Dance Alumni Series with the incredible Cheri Orr! Cheri is the artistic director of Jubilee Dance Company and co-founder of Jubilee Arts Collective in Colorado Springs. Cheri is also a company dancer with Ormao Dance Company and serves as an adjunct dance instructor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Cheri was an early graduate from the Belhaven University Dance Department and helped to build the foundation for the generations of Belhaven dancers to come! She started the Doxa Dance Club, which I was part of when I was a student, and continues to be a huge part of the department experience today. We chat about Cheri’s journey in dance, her experiences at Belhaven, and how the Lord has continued to guide her through the years. Cheri shares about some challenges she’s faced with her health, her reconnection with dance, and the mission of Jubilee Arts Collective to use art as a means of healing and restoration in the community. We also talk about what it looks like to pursue a contemplative life and encouragement for the next generation of artists.
Several other Belhaven Dance Alumni have shared their stories on the podcast over the years, so we’ve gathered all the episodes together in a playlist for you! Check out the playlist on Spotify!
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About Cheri:
Cheri Orr is the artistic director of Jubilee Dance Company and co-founder of Jubilee Arts Collective, a catalyst for hope and transformation in underserved populations through the collaborative work of performing, literary, and visual artists in missional community. The professional dance company takes dance performance and workshops into unlikely spaces including trauma treatment centers, detention centers, correctional facilities, transitional housing, and all-abilities communities, offering the hospitality and healing of Jesus Christ’s message of rescue and restoration for all.
Cheri is also a company dancer with Ormao Dance Company and teaches in their Dance for Parkinson’s outreach program, as well as serving as an adjunct dance instructor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Cheri’s passion is to engage hearts, from the very young to the far off and untouched, through the joy of dance and the power of the Holy Spirit to awaken and heal, coming into close connection with our Creator and inviting restoration through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Cheri earned her BA in Dance from Belhaven University where she danced with Ballet Magnificat! II and Belhaven Dance Ensemble and inaugurated the university’s Doxa Dance Club. She graduated from the Focus Leadership Institute in Colorado Springs and received Stott Pilates certification and Dance for Parkinson’s training to further integrate her love for dance and movement therapy with whole life ministry.
Over the past 30 years, Cheri has taught ballet, modern dance, creative movement, and Pilates for local dance studios, schools, churches, daycares, corporate offices, wellness programs, fitness centers and in Romanian orphanages. She has savored ministry performance opportunities with Open Sky Arts Collective, Dance Hope Project, Ballet Emmanuel, Anselm Society, Enter the Worship Circle and in local churches. Cheri is grateful for opportunities to sow into the her community of over two decades, though life with God, her husband, and four teenage children is her greatest delight.
Links from the Show:
- Playlist of Belhaven University Dance Alumni Episodes!
- Belhaven University Dance Department
- Jubilee Arts Collective
- Ballet Magnificat!
- Focus on the Family
- Ormao Dance Company
- University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
- Open Sky Arts Collective
- Episode 40 with Jeanna Vance
- Streetlights Audio Bible
Connect with Cheri:
Cheri@JubileeArtsCollective.org