Katie Owings decided to start her nonprofit after experiencing an “a-ha moment.” While on a mission trip to Haiti in 2014, the dance teacher and owner of Inspiration Performing Arts Center (IPAC) in Mahtomedi brought along a suitcase full of dance shoes for the kids to try out. As she watched them put the shoes on and perform, it all started to click. “I saw how empowered they were, and I remember there was a moment, like the dots connected,” Owings says.
She knew she wanted to share this experience with others, and the founding of ImPACt was soon underway. With the slogan “Dance, love, serve,” the organization offers short-term, arts-focused mission trips to Haiti and Uganda for dancers and studios around the world. In addition to creating sustainable arts programs through partnerships in each country, Owings hopes the trips bring participants a new perspective on life. ImPACt is all about “seeing people come together, seeing community form, seeing bridges where there are gaps and opportunities where there weren’t,” she says.
For Mahtomedi High School junior Maddie Bell, the ImPACt trip to Haiti last summer was a wonderful opportunity to share her faith and her passion for dance. She’s been dancing since she was 3 and has been with IPAC for more than five years. During the trip, she was able to connect with others through dance at the arts camp ImPACt puts on with the ministry Healing Haiti at an orphanage called Grace Village.
The workshops, with stations for music, tap dance and ballet, led up to a final performance at church for the kids to show off what they had learned. Despite the language barrier, Bell found it easy to communicate. “Dance and music are great ways to connect with others. It’s just like another language,” she says. Owings echoes this sentiment. “We’re able to connect through movement,” she says. “For a lot of the children that we see while we’re serving, it’s an opportunity for them to express themselves and connect.”
While the workshops were focused on teaching and providing for the kids in the village, Bell says it was a two-way street. “The kids also had their own art, their own type of dance, and their own type of crafts and music,” she says. “So we also learned from them a lot and asked them to show us their favorite moves.”
Owings says this attitude is a key part of the goal of the ImPACt trips. Rather than approach the experience with an attitude of “saving the day,” she says the aim is really more about building community through art and learning from one another. Participants are focused on what they can learn, how they can serve and how they can “grow and develop to be a more compassionate human in the world,” she says.
Lisa Hull, whose daughter Liana dances at IPAC, has heard wonderful things about how life-changing the trips can be. She’s been involved with the center’s community for several years and was drawn to IPAC for its focus on dance as an art form and its commitment to giving back. While she hasn’t been able to go on a trip to Haiti or Uganda yet, she hopes to soon. “I think mission trips provide an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone,” she says.
For Bell, going to Haiti was just that. An experience that resonated with her was “water truck day,” where the group delivered water to the impoverished Cité Soleil. Bell was moved by how much joy and faith the people possessed despite their difficult circumstances. “It was just very eye-opening for me to see how other people live in the world, and it showed me how blessed I am, personally,” she says. “I was extremely humbled.”
From trading dance moves to visiting the elderly to simply enjoying each other’s company, Owings says the memories made during ImPACt trips make it hard to say goodbye at the end. “That’s why I keep going back,” she says.
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Find out more about ImPACt at toimpacttheworld.org, or on Facebook and Instagram.
