Santa Monica-Malibu Students to Compete in Ballroom Dance Team Match
Thirty talented 5th graders celebrate the culmination of their ten-week Ballroom MADNESS school dance program as they represent their schools in the Ballroom MADNESS Elementary School Team Match.
SANTA MONICA, CA, December 06, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Thirty talented 5th graders celebrate the culmination of their ten-week Ballroom MADNESS school dance program as they represent their schools in the Ballroom MADNESS Elementary School Team Match. The young dancers, students from John Muir Elementary, Webster Elementary and Will Rogers Learning Community in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, will vie for the coveted trophy. The event, 10 �EUR" 11 a.m., Friday, December 11, will be held at Barnum Hall, Santa Monica High School, 601 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. The public is encouraged to attend and admission is free of charge.
Judges for the team match include Richard Riordan, who served as California Secretary of Education and Mayor of Los Angeles, and Donna McKechnie, Tony Award winner for the original Broadway production of �EUR�A Chorus Line,�EUR� now in California with her one-woman show, �EUR�My Musical Comedy Life (Part 2).�EUR�
�EUR�I know how dance positively enriched my life and I wanted to offer children an opportunity to express their creativity in a setting that fosters respect, teamwork and accomplishment, �EUR�one step at a time�EUR , said Jane Dorian, the group�EUR s executive director and co-founder.�EUR� I was compelled to create Ballroom MADNESS when I observed a family at lunch�EUR"each member was plugged into some electronic device. I thought �EUR�why don�EUR t they connect to each other?�EUR .�EUR�
Dorian and co-founder Daniel Ponickly, created the arts education program two years ago from their shared passion for dance. Dorian, a founding member of Center Dance Arts at the L.A.�EUR s Music Center, danced in the national company of �EUR�Hello Dolly�EUR� and numerous films and television shows. Ponickly taught dance in New York�EUR s inner city public schools and was a Senior Teaching Artist with American Ballroom Theater�EUR s �EUR�Dancing Classrooms Program,�EUR� the group profiled in the documentary, �EUR�Mad Hot Ballroom.�EUR�
�EUR�Our program is great for all students,�EUR� said Ponickly, �EUR�but it is especially gratifying when we can serve urban kids�EUR"teaching them social and partnership skills, while providing them with a positive alternative to gangs and street-life.�EUR�
The duo train a corps of dance teachers who work with the kids in the structure and familiar environment of their regular classroom during their school day. Twice a week in a one-hour session, the kids dance meringue, foxtrot, rumba, tango, swing and waltz. The students, who study the geography and cultures of the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Cuba, Eastern Europe and the U.S., write essays about their first impressions and finally, what they learned throughout the program, giving them an appreciation for a much larger world.
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