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“Dancing is about connections … to our friends, to our families, to our neighbors. It is one of the most expressive ways we celebrate and communicate our cultures and communities. With Dancing Classrooms, we are able to reach children in existing classroom settings and address fundamental issues of mutual respect and self-esteem – issues that social dance puts into practice. We hope to inspire children through dance to do well, to respect one another, to be proud. This program is about more than dance, it is about teaching children to take a bow.”
- Pierre Dulaine & Yvonne Marceau

About Dancing Classrooms Northeast Ohio

Dancing Classrooms was launched in 1994 as a not-for-profit project of the American Ballroom Theater Company. It is an arts-in-education program teaching ballroom dance to the upper elementary school students of participating schools. As seen in the documentary film Mad Hot Ballroom, Dancing Classrooms is an in-school residency for every child, regardless of background or experience.

Following the 2005 release of Mad Hot Ballroom and Take The Lead (starring Antonio Banderas) in 2006, interest in the program was greatly accelerated and sites throughout the U.S. began their development of the Dancing Classrooms program. Dancing Classrooms Northeast Ohio's Executive Director,
Jo Jo Graham, was trained by Pierre Dulaine and has worked under his guidance as a Teaching Artist with the organization throughout New York City schools. As a Teaching Artist, Jo Jo has had the opportunity to witness the transformation of students right before her eyes. It is this journey of the students that sparked the interest in bringing the Dancing Classrooms program to her native Northeast Ohio.

While Dancing Classrooms has been hailed as an effective program for teaching social dance, the program provides many other benefits. Dancing Classrooms is about creating an atmosphere which allows students who are typically introverted and reserved, to step out and shine. It focuses physical energies and increases health through the joy of movement. It builds self-esteem and interactive social skills as it improves confidence and children’s ability to relate to others.

Mission

Our mission 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, team work, confidence and a sense of joy and accomplishment that we hope to bring to every child. Ballroom dance is the medium we use to nurture these qualities.

Dancing Classrooms in Schools

Dancing Classrooms uses a curriculum-based teaching approach to achieve social awareness and build self-esteem. Students are taught the vocabulary of various contemporary social dances in a classroom setting. Each class in the series introduces new steps, reinforcing what has been previously learned through practice and repetition.

Our teaching philosophy is one of inside out versus outside in. The program is not just about teaching dance, it’s about teaching pride, confidence and respect. We take the dance that is inherent in students’ bodies and help them to bring it out, not force it in, enabling students to increase their self-esteem as they learn. Dancing Classrooms’ courses culminate in social activities geared toward family members, such as an evening dance for students with their parents, an assembly performance complete with literacy components, or a Ballroom Breakfast.

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