Today I attended a Ballroom Dancing assembly at the public school which my youngest son Sean attends. I was so impressed with how well the kids had learned six different types of ballroom dancing (merengue, swing, tango, foxtrot, waltz, and the rumba). It reminded me of the importance of the Arts in schools.
The kids demonstrated all of the dances that they had learned through their school’s partnership with Dancing Classrooms, a ballroom/etiquette program. The enthusiasm of the program’s education liaison (Victoria) and the dancing teacher (Diana) was contagious. They had us parents clapping to the beat for the appropriate dances as the kids twirled around the stage. At the end of the showcase, they even had the parents all stand up and do the Macarena. (Aye!) 🙂
I appreciate the fact that it was not just a dance program. The kids also learned etiquette, which can often seem lost in today’s society. In noticeable ways, the boys and girls were transformed (a bit) into ladies and gentlemen. I laughed as one of the girls read a passage that she had written about the experience. In it, she mentioned that she had initially thought that the program was going to be awful because she was shy and didn’t want to dance with boys. (As a mom of a boy, I can confirm that the initial feelings were reciprocal. Most of the kids didn’t want to touch/dance with the other gender at first.) At the end though, the little girl admitted that it “wasn’t bad”. In other words, she enjoyed it!
Another exceptional aspect of this dancing program is how the instructors seamlessly linked dance to the kids’ academics. The students researched the various dance forms that they learned including the various cultures which introduced the dances. The kids then wrote about their favorite dances and their origins (i.e. the swing’s roots in Harlem and the African American culture, the merengue’s Dominican Republic beginning, and more)
I want to say a special thank you to the school administrators and educators who support such programs. The principal at Sean’s school is an amazing supporter of the Arts. I’m also grateful for the foundations, businesses, and politicians who support the Arts financially through grants and funding. (Queens City Council Member Karen Koslowitz was especially helpful with this particular Dancing Classrooms program.) I’m so happy that they all see the many benefits that public school kids receive by having the arts in schools!
