For Eddie Morales, 11, a Mexican-American sixth-grader in P.S. 95 in Brooklyn, the slow movements, the force and sensuality of the tango were replaced by the fast-paced cadence of the fox trot, in his dance hall class – a class that he takes very seriously.
"I would like to be a dancer like the children in Billy Elliot," affirms Morales, who relates to the new musical show in Broadway, winner of 10 Tony Awards this year, about a child who struggles with the realities of working-class world and his wish to become a classical dancer.
Programs such as the dance hall class at Brooklyn's P.S. 95 are part of a city-wide curriculum, which experts indicate helps develop intellectual, academic and artistic skills in students, thereby providing students with a round education.
In the past year, the Department of Education has created art programs in more than 1,234 schools in New York City, with a budget of $308,567,174 – $149,000 short of last year's budget.
Cuts to the budget destined for arts education, which local agencies were forced to undertake in response to the national economic crisis, seem ironic in a city like New York, long considered a "Mecca of the Arts" in the United States.
Nevertheless, 73 percent of the elementary schools, like the one that Morales attends, offered dance lessons. Dance promotes discipline, self-esteem and character development, all important factors in the academic formation of the students, say the experts. And for some students, in addition to a form of expression and creativity, dance represents an escape valve from problems and bad company.
"We did not know about these dances, of the elegance with which the steps are executed and how this can lead to a track in a dance career. Some of the children have taught us; they are our teachers so we can learn a little of the dance," says Blanca Morales, Eddie's mother.
Eddie Morales had his first fox trot lessons when he was only four years old. Now 11 and in the sixth grade, he states he feels strongly inclined to follow a career in the world of the dance.
Some teachers view the decrease in the arts programs as part of a lack of understanding on how important the arts are to build self confidence in students who face fears and insecurity from a young age.
Joseph Almeida, a sixth-grade teacher at the KIPP Infinity Charter School, located at 625 West 133 Street, in Manhattan, considers dance to be an extremely powerful tool to help people express emotions and energy. "It is a way to really help students develop community relationships," says Almeida.
"We are a global society focused on productivity, on what you can produce, what skills you have for the work force; there is no place for dance," said Almeida, a graduate of Georgetown University, where he belonged to a hip-hop team. "Dance is a valuable tool to connect to human skills and make better students. The moment we think differently on how we test students in schools and on what we actually want as outcomes, and then dance will have a huge place in education, one that it actually deserves and that students need."
At KIPP Infinity Charter School dance is part of the core curriculum, as important a subject as Math and Science, according KIPP principal Joseph Negron, who believes that both study and the arts make up a full education.
The school started four years ago with just a fifth grade class and 80 students. Today there are sixth, seventh and eight grade classes, and it is consider one of the top school in the New York City public schools system, with 280 students enrolled, 75 percent Latino and 25 percent African American.
"Give them a chance to show other talents that they have," said Negron, who says many of the school's teachers come from Ivy League colleges, such as Harvard University and Georgetown, and others colleges from around the nation, and whose commitment to do wherever it takes has brought success to the students.
Negron explained, "Some of them are not very good in academics but they are amazing dancers and this makes them feel good about themselves and gives them a chance to be creative, to practice a lot of stuff we talk about in class room, like self control, to get a grip. We talk about how the same life skills applied to dance also apply to study." For this principal, dance represents hours and hours of practice for a 10-minute show or a five-minute dance piece and likens it to the many hours of practice and study for one Math test.
"The arts have the power to impact positively on the life of many people," assures Michael Balderrama, who is Mexican American and the dance captain of "In the Heights," a Tony Award winner for best musical in 2008.
Balderrama knows well what he says; his personal history illustrates how dance can change the course of a life. "For a little while, I had a very problematic youth. Dance saved me from falling off a precipice from which few emerge. To dance I had to learn discipline, commitment, know my capacity and limitations," he says. Balderrama is co-director of R. Evolucion Latina, a nonprofit organization that teaches dance in public schools throughout the five boroughs, with classes taught by professional dancers from Broadway shows.
For school children, dance class represents a life lesson and a dare to face new challenges. Gianni Polanco, 12 and a student at KIPP Charter School, commented about the dance program he took the previous school year with R. Evolucion Latina: "What I have learned there is that you should always be daring enough to go out of your comfort zone."
"I learned to never give up and to just have fun when I was dancing. I was tired, but I kept dancing. I liked the dance moves. All of my friends and I started to practice, we tried our best to perfect the dance, and over time we did," said Arsthly Diaz, 11, who also took part in the same program as Polanco.
According of the DOE, 89 percent of the city's public schools in all five boroughs received collaboration from one or more of the 396 nonprofit organizations dedicated to the arts. Of the 1,275 schools, 782 offer dance lessons: 73 percent of the elementary schools; 57 percent of the middle schools; and 42 percent of the high schools. Presently, 49 percent of the 782 schools have equipped studios and a space to teach the fox trot, tango, cha-cha- chá, cumbia and merengue.
This article was written as part of an education reporting fellowship granted by New York Community Media Alliance.
