The First Guild
Craft Your Identity
Menu
The First Guild
Craft Your Identity
The non-profit Dance Into Unity, Inc. (DIU) was founded by Elena Alexandra whose formal education is in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) and Svetlana (Lana) David who has a background in Engineering and Information Technology with over two decades as a systems analyst and programmer in corporate IT.
The mission of Dance Into Unity was to raise autism awareness through the large scale dance productions. Elena and Lana were looking for an answer to a devastating problem that affected their family member, Adam who was affected with a neurological condition called Autism.
Dance Into Unity hosted its first Autism Awareness event with the dance production “El Corazon del Tango” (aka, “Through the Heart of Tango”) starring Broadway icon Miriam Larici together with a celebrated Broadway cast. The live two-night event took place November 18th and 19th attracting over 2,000 people. The event also introduced the vision of “Adam’s Ranch” which was later portrayed in the video “Imagine the World” narrated by actor /producer Craig Shaffer.
The production “El Corazon del Tango” was based on a fairytale written by the founders, called “Dance Into Unity through the Heart of Tango“, a story in which the character “Disconnect” (based on Adam) helps the character “Truth” find a way from the land of separation called Snake Land, to the Land of Unity. The tale was choreographed by the show’s principals Miriam Larici and Hugo Patyn.
Artwork by M. Vasilkovsky “Light In the Snake Land” based on fairytale “Dance Into Unity Through the Heart of Tango”
Dance Into Unity hosted its next visible Autism Awareness charity event “Tango Adamor” with a celebrated Broadway cast and including the Macana Brothers, on November 21st & 22nd at the majestic Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills, now known as Saban Theatre, and Glendale’s landmark Alex Theater, attracting an audience of over 4,000, among them NBC scouts for Nigel Lythgoe’s “Superstars of Dance”. Our leading dance couple not only made the cut but won a gold medal in the 2009 program. Media reviews: “University Times” and “Vida Salsera”.
DIU Founders’ quest through autism led them to write an expanded version of the original fairytale “Dance Into Unity Through the Heart of Tango“, which they called “The Puzzle of The Tall Tower“. During this time they worked extensively with award-winning illustrator and animation artist Masha Vasilkovsky, who in addition to the book illustrations, created a tango animation based on the fairytale.
“The Puzzle of The Tall Tower” was subsequently choreographed by Broadway’s “Forever Tango” icon Miriam Larici for Dance Into Unity’s 2008 production “Tango Adamor“.
Artwork “To the Tower” by M. Vasilkovsky based on fairytale “Dance Into Unity Through the Heart of Tango”
Dance Into Unity in collaboration with the non-profit Unity in Diversity created a community program in West Hollywood called “Magic of Tango” where DIU co-founder Elena Alexandra conducted weekly workshops in the ‘Art of Connection through Tango’ to the community of West Hollywood.
In April 2020, the program Magic of Tango of West Hollywood celebrated it’s 10th anniversary
To test Match-A-Friend in action, DIU founders, Elena & Lana developed a series of workshops called “Through the Heart of Tango” where they matched up young adults with special needs to neurotypical young adults and taught them the ‘Art of Connection’ through dance.
Staged at Inclusion Films in Burbank, these workshops culminated in a two-day breathtaking event at a venue in Glendale, where the participants teamed up with professional dancers on stage. The workshops and finale event were filmed by Joey Travolta’s Inclusion Films into the documentary “Through the Heart of Tango”
The docu-series culminated at Santa Monica’s Miles Memorial Playhouse with a screening of the film, a bracelet ceremony honoring the cast members, and an autism-dedicated performance from Westside School of Ballet.
The project “Beautiful” was a testament to the success of the Match-A-Friend model. Ballet provided a structured and inspiring environment where everyone was equally engaged in creating, and empowering each other in the process. The workshops focused on participants’ qualities and talents, generating a natural and beautiful environment where autism ceased to exist.
With the recognition of the unique and innovative Match-A-Friend model as a key to creating sustainable jobs for young adults with autism, ensued a growing focus on vocational programs for young adults on the autism spectrum.
In an effort to better reflect this new mission, DIU founders decided to change the name of the organization to Autism Unites.
On February 27, 2014, Autism Unites hosted its first fundraiser featuring Robby Krieger of the legendary rock group “The DOORS“.
Attendees of the fundraiser ranged from film and media personalities to producers interested in collaborating with AU, to the participants of the project “Beautiful”, including Arman Khodaei and Valeria Velyka who shared a touching speech about their Match-A-Friend experience. The evening also featured a piano performance by a blind young man with autism.
On June 3, 2014, Adam passed away at the age of 20 leaving behind the legacy of Match-A-Friend.
Adam’s memorial took place on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014 at the Elliot Institute in Crescenta, CA, the school which Adam attended since the age of five.
Adam passed away, but his legacy became the catalyst for a new way of seeing the world.
Throughout our years of work with young people with and without autism, and the staggering theme of disconnection, grew an understanding and desire to provide a way for all people to connect with themselves and their innate qualities
To address this, we added a second name to our non-profit: The First Guild. A Guild is all about learning a craft. The First Guild is about learning to craft yourself, to craft your identity. Identity is connecting with one’s innate qualities and finding one’s natural mode of expression.
To achieve this goal, we have been developing and implementing a unique program Ballet & Identity, which teaches principles that develop core strength, confidence, unlock creativity, and empower youth ability to succeed in their chosen field through the mecca of culture, science and arts collectively represented in classical ballet