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In the News: Chicago Students Journey from Dance Class to Ballroom Dance Floor

6 Mar 2020

In a 2-part series, a reporter from ABC 7 Chicago followed a group of Chicago Public School students from their weekly dance classes at school all the way to a city-wide performance at the Chicago Cultural Center. The series cast a spotlight on Dancing with Class, a program that helps students [...]

2 Children’s Dance Books with Social Emotional Learning Themes

20 Jan 2020

Being a child can be hard… No seriously! Children can be easily influenced by others and are vulnerable to making comparisons to others. This is because they are in the beginning process of building their own identity and self-security. In this blog post, I will be reviewing two [...]

A Dancer’s Guide to Gratitude

12 Nov 2019

As we seek to build community through dance, an attitude of gratitude is key to our success. In this post, we explore why gratitude matters so much and 7 things we are grateful for as dancers. What is Gratitude and Why is it Helpful? Gratitude has several definitions including: the act [...]

Why Dance Belongs in the School Day (HINT: SEL is its Soulmate!)

16 Jul 2019

Years of research point to dance and Social Emotional Learning as a powerful combination with great potential to address issues of equity and inclusion. The most successful Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs use active forms of learning, and evidence suggests that dance out-paces [...]

Connection: A Dance Poem Compiled from Student Reflections

8 Apr 2019

Learning to dance with peers at school is an incredible journey in social development all by itself. When the goal is to eventually perform to live music played by your peers in the school orchestra, the experience rises to a whole other level. Students at Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School [...]

Social Emotional Learning & The Magic of Dance Part I

16 Nov 2018

Social Emotional Learning & The Magic of Dance – Part I Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is not just a buzz phrase here at Dancing with Class. In fact SEL is an important intervention that contributes to a person’s cognitive development and mental health from childhood into adulthood. In [...]

Three Ways Dance Can Be a Platform for Teaching Social Skills

3 Jul 2018

Not too long ago, I found a note while picking up some leftover scraps of paper in my second grade classroom. On this note, a student terminated a friendship with another student through crayon. Does this sound familiar? If it does, then you are not alone. Now, more than ever, empathy and [...]

Fourth Graders Reflect on Dance in School

21 May 2018

This year, a group of 4th-6th graders at Chicago’s Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy took the Dancing with Class core program journey, spending 10 weeks learning different styles of partner dance and then traveling to a Dance-Off event for a friendly competition with other schools. The program [...]

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 [...]