Dancing with Class Blog - Stories from the Classroom

Jewel Makes Her Choreographic Debut

15 May 2018

Jewel Baker is a high school sophomore who we first met when she was a fifth grader at Poe Classical School. She represented Poe at one of our city-wide Dance-Off events and was nominated to join our scholarship program, the DwC All-Stars. Since then, she has been one of our most reliable and [...]

Students Take the Spotlight at Edwards Elementary

14 Mar 2018

Richard Edwards Elementary is a Dual Language Fine and Performing Arts IB School that Dancing with Class has had the pleasure of partnering with for many years. It’s a right of passage for all 5th graders at Edwards to spend 10 weeks learning ballroom dance. In addition to sending a team of [...]

Catalyst Circle Rock Ballroom Dancers: Camya and Corey

18 Dec 2017

Dancing with Class decided to follow one of our amazing partners, Catalyst Circle Rock, for the 2017/18 school year. Catalyst is a huge supporter of social dance and we wanted to highlight the star dancers in their DwC program. First up we celebrate Camya and Corey! Camya – 6th [...]

Miss Denita talks about what it means to teach the DwC All-Stars

13 Dec 2017

Denita Inez, the Director of Outreach, talks below about what it means lead the DwC All-Stars. “I joined Dancing With Class 7 years ago. I have always wanted to work with an organization that taught dance to young people because I knew the power of social dance. The past years of working [...]

Find out what being a DwC All-Star means to a CPS student!

7 Dec 2017

Hello my name is Eli, (pictured with her is fellow All-Star Elliot) and this is my second year in the Dancing with Class All-Stars program. Being an All-Star really changed my summer because before my summers were boring. If we didn’t go out with the family, I didn’t go out at all. [...]

DwC Teaching Artist Spotlight: Chris Van Houten

17 Nov 2017

Our November DwC Teaching Artist Spotlight is……Chris Van Houten! We asked him why he teaches social dance in public schools: “I am so proud to be a part of Dancing With Class! I strive to make dance class a bright spot in my students’ day, and I’ve seen our program spur [...]

Spreading Peace & Joy Through Dance

25 Oct 2017

Nerdy Media joined us at Poe School in the Pullman neighborhood to dance for peace as part of our “Dancemakers are Peacemakers” workshop series. In this video, you can see some highlights from the program and hear what some of the student participants had to say about it. [...]

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October DwC Teaching Artist Spotlight: Megan Rhyme

24 Oct 2017

“As a dance teacher, I want my students to have a joyful experience with dance. I believe the arts aren’t about a product, but a process, and knowing the process makes us healthier human beings who are better able to learn and work in any field. Learning dance is more than just [...]

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Putting the “Unity” in Classroom Community

19 Oct 2017

Before I worked with Dancing With Class, I used to study and teach classes on community-based performance. One thing that kept coming up was the connection between the personal empowerment that comes from mastering a performance skill– something that you create in your own body and others [...]

Our Second Year Together

12 Aug 2017

I’ve been lucky enough to be back with a YMCA program for the 2nd year after working with new students in 2014. Last year, the kids did a wonderful job. They were completely new to partner dancing. Some were young, so they were not quite secure with dancing with a partner of the [...]