Dancing Classrooms in the News

Students compete in ballroom
dancing
Omaha World-Herald—Living, p. 2E
17 January 2008

Groups of fifth-graders from eight Omaha
elementary schools will show off their
ballroom dancing skills during the ARTery's
dancing classrooms semifinal competition
Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Omaha Public
Schools' district headquarters, 3215 Cuming
St.

Students who participated in the program
during the fall competed to be on their
school's team for the semifinals.

The top three schools will advance to the
finals in May to compete against winners of
the spring competition.

This is the third year that the ARTery, a
nonprofit arts education organization, has
taught fifth-graders 10 different ballroom
dances. Experienced dancers work with
students twice a week for nearly 10 weeks.

Students plan to show their steps
Omaha World-Herald—Living, p. 2E
Veronica Stickney
15 November 2007

Omaha Public Schools fifth-graders will show
off their ballroom dancing skills starting
today.

The students are taking part in the Dancing
Classrooms program sponsored by the
ARTery, a nonprofit arts education
organization.

Twice a week for nearly 10 weeks,
experienced dancers have been teaching 10
ballroom dances to fifth-graders.

The showcase schedule:
Today, 2 p.m., Druid Hill Elementary
Friday, 2 p.m., Liberty Elementary
Tuesday, 2 p.m., Crestridge Elementary and
Harrison Elementary; 3 p.m., Kellom
Elementary
Nov. 27, 2 p.m. Rose Hill Elementary
Nov. 30, 9 a.m., Fontenelle Elementary

Dance classes get kids in step
Omaha World-Herald—Living, p. 1E
Janice Gilmore
16 October 2007

Sometimes we need reminders that children
everywhere are involved in positive
activities. Dancing Classrooms in the Omaha
Public Schools is a wonderful illustration of
just that.

During two 45-minute sessions per week,
fifth-graders in participating schools learn
the merengue, fox trot, waltz, rumba, tango,
swing, polka and line dancing. The dance
teachers have experience in both dance and
education.

The goal is to build social awareness,
confidence and self- esteem.

The children, referred to as ladies and
gentlemen, also learn manners.

"May I have this dance?" they ask.
"With pleasure," their partners respond.

They leave each dance class in escort
positions, with gentlemen on the left with
their right arms bent for the ladies to hold.

At first, some children were skeptical. But
they've come to embrace the dances. Many
parents are delighted, too.

Kerinne Anderson is participating this year
at Druid Hill Elementary.

"I love the songs and dancing," said the 10-
year-old. "I liked learning where the songs
came from, and using our manners."

Tarina Cox, assistant principal at Kellom
Elementary, said Dancing Classrooms ties
into the fifth-grade curriculum. Some of the
dances are from South American and Latin
cultures that students already are studying.

Teachers talk about how music ties to math.
Kids journal about their dancing.

Cox said she has noticed big differences in
some of the children's demeanor.

"When the principal, Eric Nelson, comes to a
class and participates, the students are
thrilled," she said.

Jan Martin, principal at Belle Ryan
Elementary, gives the program rave reviews.

"It is so much fun to see the children's faces
as they dance, and I've seen a big change in
some of the students' confidence," she said.

At the end of the program, children dress up
beautifully and invite parents and other
relatives to see them dance.

Pierre Dulaine and Yvonne Marceau, world-
renowned ballroom dancers, launched
Dancing Classrooms in New York in 1994.

The program is coordinated locally by the
ARTery, a nonprofit art education
organization. It costs about $2,000 per
classroom and is funded through grants.

This is the third year for Dancing Classrooms
in OPS. It is in 17 elementary schools, about
double the number from last year. Other
schools participating this semester are
Crestridge Magnet, Fontenelle, Harrison,
Liberty and Rose Hill.

Funding from an anonymous donor and the
Rose Theater's donation of training facilities
for instructors allowed the program to grow.

Marian Fey, artistic director at ARTery, said
the program teaches self-esteem and social
awareness.

"It teaches children so much more than
dancing."

It is so refreshing to hear about children
dressing up, learning traditional dances,
social skills and decorum. What a blessing
for the ARTery to provide this experience to
so many of our Omaha students.

THESE KIDS ARE MAD
ABOUT BALLROOM...
Elementary students in Omaha
put on their own version of
'Dancing With the Stars'

Omaha World-Herald April 14, 2006
Michaela Saunders WORLD-HERALD STAFF
WRITER 03B English

Fifth-graders at Omaha's Liberty
Elementary let loose Wednesday
afternoon

Dressed to the nines and ready to shake it, they
put on a show of the dances they had learned
over the past six weeks for an audience of family
members, friends and school board members.

Like events planned Thursday and today at
Belvedere, Catlin and Fontenelle Elementary
Schools, the Liberty program was a sneak
preview of a districtwide showcase scheduled for
6 p.m. Monday in the Teacher Administrative
Center auditorium.

In "escort position," pairs of dignified and
serious youngsters filed into the Liberty
gymnasium at 2021 St. Mary's Ave. As family
members snapped pictures, the students and
their teachers beamed.

There was the tango, the favorite of Victor Rojas,
11. And the swing, 12-year-old Amairani Garibo's
favorite. They showed off their rumba,
merengue, waltz, fox trot -- and macarena, too.

Victor likes the tango because "you get to do
more stuff with your feet" than in the other
dances. He has been selected to tango onstage
Monday night. Despite the expected crowd, he's
not nervous.

"I can dream it and do it," he said with a laugh.

Program teaches elementary
students ballroom dancing
BY JENNIFER GREFF, WORLD-HERALD
STAFF WRITER
Monday, January 8, 2007

This weekend, a group of adults gathered in the
gymnasium of Liberty Elementary School to learn
the moves they soon will be teaching to fifth-
graders through Dancing Classrooms. The
program is sponsored by the ARTery, a nonprofit
arts organization.

Using phrases like pancake position and shake
your buttons, the dance curriculum uses imagery
to appeal to the students.

(If you're wondering, pancake position describes
a hand hold in which one dancer lays his hands
flat on top of his partner's palms, and shaking
one's buttons refers to gyrating one's back
pockets.)

"It's fun this way because you find the images
that are in their world, not mine," said Rick
Brayshaw, one of the new dance teachers
training on Sunday.

In the program, the youngsters not only learn
how to dance, but also to increase their self-
esteem and practice teamwork, said Marian Fey,
artistic director of the ARTery.

"It teaches them to be ladies and gentlemen,"
she said. "And it's fun."
Dancing Classrooms is modeled after a New York
City program featured in the 2005 documentary
"Mad Hot Ballroom." The program debuted in
Omaha last year with four schools and was so
successful that this year the number of
participating schools has doubled to eight, Fey
said.

Elementary schools participating this year are
Belle Ryan, Belvedere, Catlin, Druid Hill,
Fontenelle, Joslyn, Liberty and Springville.

"Pancake position" and "shake
your buttons" may not mean
anything to most adults....

But fifth-graders at eight Omaha elementary
schools will be doing both as they learn ballroom
dancing in an innovative program kicking off its
second year this month.

Liberty Principal Nancy Oberst said she noticed a
change in her school during the six weeks of the
Dancing Classrooms program, modeled after the
program featured in the 2005 documentary "Mad
Hot Ballroom."

"There was so much interest and discussion by
children and their families and the staff," she
said. "It snowballed."

Oberst said that although some children were
shy about what they were learning, others
would do a quick demonstration if asked. "The
confidence really came through."

Susie White, who snapped cell phone pictures of
daughter Isabelle Chamberlain, said the program
meant a lot to her daughter.
"She practiced everywhere," White said. "She
was having fun. She came home wanting to
teach me the dances."

Barb Farho, executive director of the ARTery, said
the program surpassed expectations.

The ARTery, a local nonprofit arts organization,
paid for Pierre Dulaine, creator of the Dancing
Classrooms curriculum, to come to Omaha and
train professional dancers who went into the
schools. Those dancers worked with the
classroom teachers to teach the students.

After the final showcase, Farho said, the
organization will work with the Omaha school
district to determine whether the program will
continue and even expand to other schools next
year.

School board members Nancy Huston and Mona
McGregor, who attended the Liberty showcase
Wednesday, said they were pleased with the
program.

"If the smiles on all the parents' faces say
anything," McGregor said, "they'll be down
there" at a school board meeting if the future of
the program is debated.

Midtown in Omaha, Nebraska
Dancing Classrooms in the News

'Art Is for Everyone'

Next page 1 2 3