Diversion 2026!

Don’t miss Diversion 2026! This year we are putting together a one-day workshop exploring the crossover where African dance meets Lindy Hop with Connie Love & Cyle Dixon! We will have a soul train basics class before the evening dance, and DJs all night playing soul dance music in collaboration with Mile High Soul Club! ALL proceeds of this event go to CMDance’s Pre-K-12 School Dance Programming whose funding was cut this year. Consider chipping in an extra donation for the kids!
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CMDance-Event-Diversion2026

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CMDance-Event- Diversion-ClassSchedule
Day Classes
Saturday, February 21, 2026
Daytime dance workshops based in the roots of swing dancing exploring where African dance meets Lindy Hop with Connie Love & Cyle Dixon!
Evening Soul Club Dance Party:
Evening dance with special Soul Train Basics class and then DJs in collaboration with Mile High Soul Club!
The Pearl Denver, 2199 California St, Denver, CO 80205
CMDance-Event-Diversion-Performance 1
Performance 1
Right before the lunch break during the day, the College View High School Lunar New Year Performance Team will be not only performing a traditional Vietnamese dance for us, they will also be educating us all about the holiday!
CMDance-Event-Diversion-Performance 2
Performance 2
We can't wait for the CMDance Performance Team to take the stage during the evening dance!
CMDance-Event-Diversion-Performance 3
Performance 3
Catch the Dolls’ performance during the evening dance!
CMDance-Event- Diversion-EveningClassSchedule
Evening Schedule
Get ready to party to all-vinyl records of the DJs of Mile High Soul Club playing 60’s and Early 70’s Soul & Funk all night!
MHSC has worked with and opened for such notable acts as Nick Waterhouse, Lenny Kravitz, Charles Bradley, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, Fred Schneider of the B-52’s, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and many more.
CMDance-Event- Diversion-Pricing
Event Pricing

Registration Opens November 22, 2025!

Early Bird pricing until sold out (limited tickets available!):
The Whole Thing $99
Day Classes Only $75
Evening Only $25
Standard pricing until 2/19/25 @11:59pm:
The Whole Thing $109
Just the classes $80
Just the evening dance $30
At-the-door pricing on Saturday 2/21/26:
The Whole Thing $119
Just the classes $85
Soul Train Basics pre-evening dance class (7-8pm) $15
Just the dance $25 (8-midnight)
CMDance-Diversion-4NightsofDancing
4 nights of Dancing!
If you want to make a full dance weekend out of it you can add these dances onto Diversion Saturday:

—Thursday 2/19 - Shimmy Shakin’ Blues @ the Mercury Cafe $20 Live Music with the Maynard Mills Blues Band

—Friday 2/20 - Colorado Swing Dance Club @ the Turnverein $15 DJed Dance

—Sunday 2/22 - Swing Nights @ the Pearl Denver $15 Live Music

Instructor+Highlight
Connie Love
Constance Harris (aka Connie Love) is a Colorado-based dance artist, choreographer, and creative producer dedicated to transforming community through movement, music, and nightlife. Known on stage as Connie Love, her work fuses the spirit of house, hip-hop, line dancing and Afrobeats with storytelling that celebrates joy, lineage, and liberation.
Constance is the co-founder and artistic director of Raw Groove, an African diasporic dance collective recognized for its electrifying fusion of global street styles and live performance experiences. Under her leadership, Raw Groove has performed at the Denver Fringe Festival, CRAFT, Freeform, and Viva Brazil!, and has collaborated with leading Denver nightlife brands including Love Language, Scatta Afrobeats, and HYPE!
Through productions like Life of the Party and Tenets, Constance builds immersive, community-driven events that bridge the worlds of concert dance and club culture. Her work invites audiences to remember the body as a site of power and joy. Beyond performance, Constance teaches throughout the Front Range, offering classes through her ongoing series Grooveline and Afrogroove and workshops at CU Boulder, Bboy Factory, and Mi Chantli. Her creative mission is to uplift diasporic expression, nurture collective healing, and reimagine nightlife as a sanctuary for transformation.
Instructor+Highlight+(1)
Cyle Dixon
At 27 years old, Cyle Dixon is a proud Cleveland native and award-winning dancer who discovered his passion for artistic expression early in life. He often reflects on how he first learned to hear music from the soul while soul line dancing at barbecues and singing in church as a child. Cyle embarked on his dance journey at just thirteen, joining the Cleveland Junior Jitterbugs (CJJ). This formative experience ignited a lifelong love for Lindy Hop, inspiring him to compete  in and explore various dance styles, as well as create choreography and soul line dances.
Cyle's dedication to his craft has taken him across the world , where he has showcased his talent at numerous events, including Frankie 100, BeanTown Dance Camp, Herrang Dance Camp, ILHC, and Camp Hollywood etc. As a teacher, his primary goal is to spread love and honor the rich legacy of the art form created by his ancestors or as he calls them “melanated legends and icons”. If there is one lesson he wishes to impart to every student, it would be: “Feel the beat of the music from the depths of your soul and let your creativity and individuality shine outward.”
Diversion+HighlightsAnnouncements+(18)
DJs Steve Cervantes & Tyler Jacobson
About Mile High Soul Club
Started in 2008 by Rockabilly and Ribs founder DJ DogBoy, and Lipgloss co-founder, Tyler Jacobson, Mile High Soul Club has become the epicenter for Denver’s flourishing soul underground. Known internationally as one of the bright spots of America’s current soul scene, Mile High Soul Club is a monthly party on the 2nd Saturday at HQ in Denver where resident DJs, guest DJs and live bands specialize in making the dance floor move with a quality mix of Soul, Funk, Northern Soul and R&B.
In 2012, the duo of DJ DogBoy and Tyler Jacobson became a trio with the addition of DJ Steve Cervantes. MHSC has worked with and opened for such notable acts as Nick Waterhouse, Lenny Kravitz, Charles Bradley, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, Fred Schneider of the B-52’s, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and many more.
CMDance-venues-diversion-2026
Venues

Day Classes:

Casa Denver Dance and Event Center
4025 Steele St, Denver, CO 80216.
Parking: Free parking lot, surrounding street parking, and parking at the Bruce Randolph School parking lot across the street.

Evening Dance Party with Mile High Soul Club:

The Pearl Denver, Upstairs Ballroom

2199 California St, Denver, CO 80205
Parking: Free surrounding street parking and a parking lot that starts at $4 to park for the evening.
CMDance-Travel-Colorado-Airport
Flying Into Denver
The nearest major airport is the Denver International Airport (DIA). Check out these websites for deals on flights!
www.southwest.com – www.farecast.com – www.orbitz.com –www.kayak.com – www.priceline.com – www.hotwire.com –www.travelocity.com
Getting Around Denver
Rideshare programs like Uber or Lyft are highly active in Denver. We also have Car2GO, a convenient smart-car rental service providing over 400 2-person cars spread throughout Denver; just take it, drive it, and park it, within the designated city area (membership required). Scooters are also a popular form of travel for short distances. Downloading an app is required but choose from Bird, Lyft, Uber, and more!
RTD Buses – For public transportation, our RTD buses and light rail system are an effective and inexpensive method of getting around Denver. Check out the RTD website for a helpful Trip Planner and more details on Denver public transit.
Getting to Downtown Denver from DIA
The A-Line will get you from the DIA airport to Union Station (1.5 miles from the Studio Loft/Curtis Hotel) in approx 40 minutes. This is by far the most affordable and efficient way to get downtown from the airport. Ticket purchase required. All RTD Schedules
Parking in Denver
No data was found
CMDance-Diversion-Instructor-ConnieLove
10:00am with Connie

Afro to Swing: Exploring Bounce, Rhythm and Groove

We will be looking at how African Dances influenced the creation of swing dance and the history that remains in the key elements of the dance! By the end of this class, you will understand rhythms and grooves that are interlocked between the dance styles.
All Levels
CMDance-Diversion-InstructorCyle Dixon
11:15am with Cyle

Get Low and Let It Flow

A blend of authentic jazz and Afro movements.
Focus: Level changes, groove and flow of movement into one another
All Levels
CMDance-Diversion-Instructor-ConnieLove
1:15pm with Connie & Cyle

Afro Ya Lindy

A class where we will explore the similarities of movements between swing/authentic jazz and Afro movements.
Focus: Groove, Culture, Partnership
Prerequisites: Understand basic 6 count and 8 count footwork of lindy hop, a swing out and a lindy circle
CMDance-Event- Diversion-ClassSchedule
2:30pm with Cyle and Connie

Afro Ya Lindy Part 2: It’s All Culture

We will explore more of what blending Afro movement and swing/authentic jazz looks like, building more on the similarities of all Afro/black dances.
Prerequisites: Understand basic 6 count and 8 count footwork of lindy hop, a swing out and a lindy circle
CMDance-Diversion-Instructor-ConnieLove
7:00pm with Connie

Soul Train Basics

Need to brush up on your soul train moves and rhythms? Come for the fun, stay for the soul train during the evening dance to strut your stuff!
All Levels: Note, this class will focus a lot on your internal sense of rhythm.
No data was found
CMDance-Staff-CEO-Caryn-Carrasco
Executive Director
Caryn Carrasco
This event will serve as a fundraiser for our school programming this year! 
We are keeping prices as low as possible for Diversion this year to allow space for you to contribute to our PreK-12 School Dance Programming if you can! Many of our school program budgets were cut this year or canceled altogether, and we don't want to let those kids go without dance programming if we have anything to say about it!! We are focused on raising at least $1,000 that was cut from DSST: Cole High School's Dance Club program funding, and all other proceeds will go toward our other school programming.
CMDance-Staff-EventManager-Felicia-Bode
Event Manager
Felicia Bode
CMDance-Staff-EveningManager-Romeo-Henderson
Evening Manager
Romeo Henderson
CMDance-Staff-SocialMediaCoordinator-Alicia Marcentile
Social Media Coordinator
Alicia Marcentile
No data was found

schedule

CMDance-Event- Diversion-ClassSchedule
Day Classes
Saturday, February 21, 2026
Daytime dance workshops based in the roots of swing dancing exploring where African dance meets Lindy Hop with Connie Love & Cyle Dixon!
Evening Soul Club Dance Party:
Evening dance with special Soul Train Basics class and then DJs in collaboration with Mile High Soul Club!
The Pearl Denver, 2199 California St, Denver, CO 80205
CMDance-Event-Diversion-Performance 1
Performance 1
Right before the lunch break during the day, the College View High School Lunar New Year Performance Team will be not only performing a traditional Vietnamese dance for us, they will also be educating us all about the holiday!
CMDance-Event-Diversion-Performance 2
Performance 2
We can't wait for the CMDance Performance Team to take the stage during the evening dance!
CMDance-Event-Diversion-Performance 3
Performance 3
Catch the Dolls’ performance during the evening dance!
CMDance-Event- Diversion-EveningClassSchedule
Evening Schedule
Get ready to party to all-vinyl records of the DJs of Mile High Soul Club playing 60’s and Early 70’s Soul & Funk all night!
MHSC has worked with and opened for such notable acts as Nick Waterhouse, Lenny Kravitz, Charles Bradley, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, Fred Schneider of the B-52’s, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and many more.
CMDance-Event- Diversion-Pricing
Event Pricing

Registration Opens November 22, 2025!

Early Bird pricing until sold out (limited tickets available!):
The Whole Thing $99
Day Classes Only $75
Evening Only $25
Standard pricing until 2/19/25 @11:59pm:
The Whole Thing $109
Just the classes $80
Just the evening dance $30
At-the-door pricing on Saturday 2/21/26:
The Whole Thing $119
Just the classes $85
Soul Train Basics pre-evening dance class (7-8pm) $15
Just the dance $25 (8-midnight)
CMDance-Diversion-4NightsofDancing
4 nights of Dancing!
If you want to make a full dance weekend out of it you can add these dances onto Diversion Saturday:

—Thursday 2/19 - Shimmy Shakin’ Blues @ the Mercury Cafe $20 Live Music with the Maynard Mills Blues Band

—Friday 2/20 - Colorado Swing Dance Club @ the Turnverein $15 DJed Dance

—Sunday 2/22 - Swing Nights @ the Pearl Denver $15 Live Music

instructors

Instructor+Highlight
Connie Love
Constance Harris (aka Connie Love) is a Colorado-based dance artist, choreographer, and creative producer dedicated to transforming community through movement, music, and nightlife. Known on stage as Connie Love, her work fuses the spirit of house, hip-hop, line dancing and Afrobeats with storytelling that celebrates joy, lineage, and liberation.
Constance is the co-founder and artistic director of Raw Groove, an African diasporic dance collective recognized for its electrifying fusion of global street styles and live performance experiences. Under her leadership, Raw Groove has performed at the Denver Fringe Festival, CRAFT, Freeform, and Viva Brazil!, and has collaborated with leading Denver nightlife brands including Love Language, Scatta Afrobeats, and HYPE!
Through productions like Life of the Party and Tenets, Constance builds immersive, community-driven events that bridge the worlds of concert dance and club culture. Her work invites audiences to remember the body as a site of power and joy. Beyond performance, Constance teaches throughout the Front Range, offering classes through her ongoing series Grooveline and Afrogroove and workshops at CU Boulder, Bboy Factory, and Mi Chantli. Her creative mission is to uplift diasporic expression, nurture collective healing, and reimagine nightlife as a sanctuary for transformation.
Instructor+Highlight+(1)
Cyle Dixon
At 27 years old, Cyle Dixon is a proud Cleveland native and award-winning dancer who discovered his passion for artistic expression early in life. He often reflects on how he first learned to hear music from the soul while soul line dancing at barbecues and singing in church as a child. Cyle embarked on his dance journey at just thirteen, joining the Cleveland Junior Jitterbugs (CJJ). This formative experience ignited a lifelong love for Lindy Hop, inspiring him to compete  in and explore various dance styles, as well as create choreography and soul line dances.
Cyle's dedication to his craft has taken him across the world , where he has showcased his talent at numerous events, including Frankie 100, BeanTown Dance Camp, Herrang Dance Camp, ILHC, and Camp Hollywood etc. As a teacher, his primary goal is to spread love and honor the rich legacy of the art form created by his ancestors or as he calls them “melanated legends and icons”. If there is one lesson he wishes to impart to every student, it would be: “Feel the beat of the music from the depths of your soul and let your creativity and individuality shine outward.”

music

Diversion+HighlightsAnnouncements+(18)
DJs Steve Cervantes & Tyler Jacobson
About Mile High Soul Club
Started in 2008 by Rockabilly and Ribs founder DJ DogBoy, and Lipgloss co-founder, Tyler Jacobson, Mile High Soul Club has become the epicenter for Denver’s flourishing soul underground. Known internationally as one of the bright spots of America’s current soul scene, Mile High Soul Club is a monthly party on the 2nd Saturday at HQ in Denver where resident DJs, guest DJs and live bands specialize in making the dance floor move with a quality mix of Soul, Funk, Northern Soul and R&B.
In 2012, the duo of DJ DogBoy and Tyler Jacobson became a trio with the addition of DJ Steve Cervantes. MHSC has worked with and opened for such notable acts as Nick Waterhouse, Lenny Kravitz, Charles Bradley, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, Fred Schneider of the B-52’s, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and many more.

travel/venue

CMDance-venues-diversion-2026
Venues

Day Classes:

Casa Denver Dance and Event Center
4025 Steele St, Denver, CO 80216.
Parking: Free parking lot, surrounding street parking, and parking at the Bruce Randolph School parking lot across the street.

Evening Dance Party with Mile High Soul Club:

The Pearl Denver, Upstairs Ballroom

2199 California St, Denver, CO 80205
Parking: Free surrounding street parking and a parking lot that starts at $4 to park for the evening.
CMDance-Travel-Colorado-Airport
Flying Into Denver
The nearest major airport is the Denver International Airport (DIA). Check out these websites for deals on flights!
www.southwest.com – www.farecast.com – www.orbitz.com –www.kayak.com – www.priceline.com – www.hotwire.com –www.travelocity.com
Getting Around Denver
Rideshare programs like Uber or Lyft are highly active in Denver. We also have Car2GO, a convenient smart-car rental service providing over 400 2-person cars spread throughout Denver; just take it, drive it, and park it, within the designated city area (membership required). Scooters are also a popular form of travel for short distances. Downloading an app is required but choose from Bird, Lyft, Uber, and more!
RTD Buses – For public transportation, our RTD buses and light rail system are an effective and inexpensive method of getting around Denver. Check out the RTD website for a helpful Trip Planner and more details on Denver public transit.
Getting to Downtown Denver from DIA
The A-Line will get you from the DIA airport to Union Station (1.5 miles from the Studio Loft/Curtis Hotel) in approx 40 minutes. This is by far the most affordable and efficient way to get downtown from the airport. Ticket purchase required. All RTD Schedules
Parking in Denver

contests

No data was found

classes

CMDance-Diversion-Instructor-ConnieLove
10:00am with Connie

Afro to Swing: Exploring Bounce, Rhythm and Groove

We will be looking at how African Dances influenced the creation of swing dance and the history that remains in the key elements of the dance! By the end of this class, you will understand rhythms and grooves that are interlocked between the dance styles.
All Levels
CMDance-Diversion-InstructorCyle Dixon
11:15am with Cyle

Get Low and Let It Flow

A blend of authentic jazz and Afro movements.
Focus: Level changes, groove and flow of movement into one another
All Levels
CMDance-Diversion-Instructor-ConnieLove
1:15pm with Connie & Cyle

Afro Ya Lindy

A class where we will explore the similarities of movements between swing/authentic jazz and Afro movements.
Focus: Groove, Culture, Partnership
Prerequisites: Understand basic 6 count and 8 count footwork of lindy hop, a swing out and a lindy circle
CMDance-Event- Diversion-ClassSchedule
2:30pm with Cyle and Connie

Afro Ya Lindy Part 2: It’s All Culture

We will explore more of what blending Afro movement and swing/authentic jazz looks like, building more on the similarities of all Afro/black dances.
Prerequisites: Understand basic 6 count and 8 count footwork of lindy hop, a swing out and a lindy circle
CMDance-Diversion-Instructor-ConnieLove
7:00pm with Connie

Soul Train Basics

Need to brush up on your soul train moves and rhythms? Come for the fun, stay for the soul train during the evening dance to strut your stuff!
All Levels: Note, this class will focus a lot on your internal sense of rhythm.

merch

No data was found

staff

CMDance-Staff-CEO-Caryn-Carrasco
Executive Director
Caryn Carrasco
This event will serve as a fundraiser for our school programming this year! 
We are keeping prices as low as possible for Diversion this year to allow space for you to contribute to our PreK-12 School Dance Programming if you can! Many of our school program budgets were cut this year or canceled altogether, and we don't want to let those kids go without dance programming if we have anything to say about it!! We are focused on raising at least $1,000 that was cut from DSST: Cole High School's Dance Club program funding, and all other proceeds will go toward our other school programming.
CMDance-Staff-EventManager-Felicia-Bode
Event Manager
Felicia Bode
CMDance-Staff-EveningManager-Romeo-Henderson
Evening Manager
Romeo Henderson
CMDance-Staff-SocialMediaCoordinator-Alicia Marcentile
Social Media Coordinator
Alicia Marcentile

food

No data was found

Sponsors

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Join Us!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Feb 21
10:00 am
Diversion 2026!
view more
Sep 09
01:00 pm
2026 Annual Event Pass Sale!
view more
Sep 18
07:00 pm
Lindy on the Rocks & Hot Night Fusion Weekend 2026!
view more
Nov 20
06:30 pm
Hot Jazz Jamboree 2026
view more
Nov 21
12:00 am
CMDance 2026 Annual Event
view more