Where HOOPS Meets Dance: Inside ARTs Pilot Series: Pilot #2

A basketball court and a dance studio may look like two different worlds. But step inside either one and you’ll find many of the same foundations: discipline, footwork, stamina, communication, confidence, creativity, and hours spent turning practice into ability.

Those similarities were at the center of Holiday HOOPS & ARTs (HH&A) ARTs Pilot Series: Pilot #2, held in partnership with Inez Patricia School of Dance (IPSOD) in Orlando.

Through a HOOPS × Dance experience, young dancers explored the connection between athletics and the arts alongside Coach Terrell Green and IPSOD Company Director Mikaela Chapman. The experience combined movement with conversation, giving participants a chance to hear how skills developed through dance, sports, and life can strengthen one another.

When Athletics Becomes an Art

Representing the HOOPS side of the experience, Coach Terrell Green challenged the idea that athletics and art belong in separate categories.

From the rhythm and control involved in dribbling a basketball to the movement of a football player, Coach Green sees creativity within athletic ability itself.

“Being athletic is an art. Being able to do something special with your sports talent is definitely an art.”

But the connection goes beyond physical movement.

Coach Green also uses basketball to teach skills his players will need long after a game ends. During Pilot #2, he spoke with the dancers about listening, teamwork, and particularly communication.

“I always draw the connection with how you will be as an adult...listening and communication.”

On a basketball court, players have to communicate where teammates should be and what is happening around them. As Coach Green explained, learning to communicate effectively also matters with family, in relationships, and eventually in professional environments.

One Person, Two Worlds

For Mikaela Chapman, the connection between athletics and dance isn't theoretical. She has experienced both.

Mikaela has been dancing since she was two and has been part of IPSOD since age 10. Now a Company Director at the school, she also grew up playing basketball and volleyball.

Through both experiences, she discovered that dance and athletics rely on many of the same foundations, including footwork, stamina, memorization, discipline, and the ability to adjust. She also found that each helped her become stronger in the other.

“Dancers are athletes. I think they go side by side with one another.”

Mikaela explained that dance can help athletes develop flexibility, movement, and awareness of muscles they may not normally focus on, while athletics helped her build stamina, discipline, and adaptability as a dancer.

Her message to the dancers during Pilot #2 was simple: young people don't have to limit themselves to one interest.

“I really hope the kids take away understanding that you can do more than one thing.”

Mikaela saw that idea begin to click throughout the experience. Some dancers who initially weren't sure what to expect were talking afterward about wanting to try other activities, including soccer and volleyball.

For Mikaela, that shift was one of the best parts of the day: seeing participants become more willing to try something unfamiliar, even if they might make mistakes along the way.

What Dance Gives Young People

The connection between athletics and the arts can be explained through shared skills, but the dancers themselves offered another perspective on why access to these experiences matters.

Nine-year-old Tiana described dance as a major part of her life and something she hopes other young people have the opportunity to experience.

“When I perform, I can show that a lot of other people can have an opportunity to be in dance like me.”

For Samaya, Malia, and Sydney, dance has become part of their routines and identities after years of training.

One dancer described it simply:

“Dance is something...that makes me really happy.”

Another explained how dance gives her a place to express herself while improving her skills and spending time with friends:

“Dance is a good way to express myself...I get to be here, I get to be with my friends and just really better myself with my technique.”

For another dancer, it provides an escape from everything else happening in life. And when asked about her favorite part of dancing at IPSOD, one participant described the studio in even simpler terms:

“This studio is my family.”

Together, their answers show that dance can serve different purposes for different young people. It can be physical training, creative expression, routine, friendship, challenge, or simply a place where they feel they belong.

More Than a Dance Studio

That approach is central to the Inez Patricia School of Dance, where dance education extends beyond learning choreography.

Based in Orlando, IPSOD combines technical dance training with creativity, confidence, mentorship, and personal growth. At the center of the school is Founder and Artistic Director Jeré James Snowden, who has spent decades training, performing, and teaching dance.

Jeré began dancing at four years old, later studying at A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts (where she met fellow classmate and HH&A Co-CEO, Westley Todd Holiday) and training through Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's summer intensive. After years of teaching throughout Central Florida, she opened IPSOD in 2016, naming the school after her late mother to honor the support and sacrifices that helped make her own dance journey possible.

During Pilot #2, Jeré watched her dancers hear from Coach Green about athletics and life skills before seeing a different side of Mikaela, someone they already knew as their dance director.

“Blending the athlete and the athleticism and the arts...blending those two together was absolutely beautiful for them to experience.”

Jeré particularly noticed the dancers' reactions as Mikaela shared her experiences as both an athlete and dancer. Seeing the students engaged, listening, and learning from both perspectives became one of her favorite parts of the experience.

More Than Basketball. More Than Dance.

The connection between HH&A and IPSOD also extends beyond the activities of Pilot #2.

Jeré shared that her relationship with the Holiday family goes back years, with their families growing up together. Today, that relationship is continuing through a new generation and a shared interest in creating opportunities for young people.

For Jeré, that's what makes the HH&A and IPSOD partnership particularly meaningful.

“It's more than just basketball. It's more than just dance. It's really about legacy.”

She described their generation as having the opportunity to continue the work started by those before them and “continue the torch.”

That idea also reflects the purpose behind HH&A's growing ARTs programming.

ARTs, Amplifying & Refining Talents, expands the organization's youth development work beyond athletics by creating opportunities for young people to explore creative interests alongside the life skills that have long been part of HH&A's mission.

ARTs Pilot Series: Pilot #2 offered one example of what that can look like.

The dancers didn't have to stop being artists to learn from an athletic coach. Mikaela didn't have to choose between being an athlete and a dancer. And Coach Green didn't see athletic ability as separate from creativity.

Instead, Pilot #2 gave everyone an opportunity to look at familiar skills from a different perspective.

Building the Next Chapter of ARTs

As Holiday HOOPS & ARTs celebrates 25 years, experiences like ARTs Pilot Series: Pilot #2 are also helping HH&A explore what comes next.

The partnership with Inez Patricia School of Dance demonstrated one way athletics, the arts, mentorship, and life skills can work together to give young people more opportunities to discover what they're capable of.

As HH&A continues building its ARTs programming, Pilot #2 adds another experience to learn from and build upon, while staying focused on the larger goal of creating opportunities for young people to grow both personally and creatively.

That next chapter will also be part of the celebration at the HH&A 25th Anniversary Gala on October 16, 2026, bringing together supporters, families, community members, and leaders to recognize 25 years of impact and help build what comes next.

Support from the Anniversary Campaign Legacy Fund will help advance HH&A's priorities for the future, including scholarships, sustainability, and a future space for its programs.