Pittsburgh teaching artists Terry Sweeney and Rozana Sweeney with program founder Pierre Dulaine at the kickoff reception for Dancing Classrooms Pittsburgh (© 2009 Archie Carpenter)
Dancing Classrooms launched in 1994 as a not-for-profit project of the American Ballroom Theater Company. It is an arts-in-education program that teaches ballroom dance to students of participating schools. Dancing Classrooms is an in-school residency for every child, regardless of his or her background or experience.
While Dancing Classrooms is hailed as an effective program for teaching social dance, the program provides many other benefits. Dancing Classrooms is about creating an atmosphere that allows students who are typically introverted and reserved to step out and shine. It focuses physical energy and increases health through the joy of movement. It builds self-esteem and interactive social skills as it improves children’s confidence and their ability to relate to others.
The mission of Dancing Classrooms is to build social awareness, confidence and self-esteem in children through the practice of social dance.
Through standards-based, in-school residencies, we use the vocabulary of ballroom dance to cultivate the positive feelings that are inherent in every child. The maturity necessary to dance together fosters respect, teamwork, confidence and a sense of joy and accomplishment which we hope to bring to every child. Ballroom dance is the medium we use to nurture these qualities.
Dancing Classrooms was the inspiration for the documentary “Mad Hot Ballroom” and the movie “Take the Lead,” featuring Antonio Banderas as Pierre Dulaine.
More than 300,000 children have participated in Dancing Classrooms programs worldwide. During the 2010-11 school year, Dancing Classrooms served 42,000 children in 509 schools in 23 cities.
For more information on the national network of programs, visit Dancing Classrooms official website.
