Having A Ball at Madison Elementary School

This school year, a select group of Madison Elementary’s fifth grade students participated in the Chicago Public School’s pilot ballroom dance program called Having A Ball.  The school, which is located on the southeast side of Chicago, was one of about 18 CPS schools chosen by lottery to participate in the program. For ten weeks, students took three classes a week, twice with ballroom dance artist Anthony Costello and once with myself, Natalie Davis, their regular dance teacher.  Twelve of the couples practiced for an additional three weeks after school and went on to compete in the regional dance competition.

Having A Ball  was modeled after the successful ballroom dance program in New York City.  However, another component differentiated the Chicago program from New York: In addition to a rigorous syllabus that focused on six dances: The Waltz, Fox Trot, Swing, Merengue, Rumba, and Tango, there were lessons of Character Education. For instance, students were asked to write complimentary or thank-you notes to their classmates about something they noticed during dance class, or elsewhere during the school day. For myself, the Character Education component was the most important part of the program.  As their regular dance teacher, I think that ballroom dance is a genius way to instill ethical attitudes in our youth today especially because dance class provides a lot of exploration for social interaction.

The Competition:

At the regional competition, the dancers received a silver ribbon for their performance.  There were tears by the students, but there was also the sweet experience of seeing the students support their peers to try to cheer them up.  The encouragement and love that the parents and teachers involved really helped to develop a sense of community and support of one another.

The dancers were quiet on the bus ride home, but little whispers and smiles were seen and heard.  One student kept replaying segments of the tape his mom recorded of the competition, and eagerly offered the song list to the reporter of the Chicago Public Broadcast station, who’d been shadowing the students throughout the in-house ten week program. 

In Their Own Words:

The next week, after the competition, I interviewed the students to get an idea of what they liked about ballroom dance, their experience of the competition, and the opportunity to continue learning ballroom dance at school. 

Interviewer (Natalie Davis, Teacher)

Tierra, age 11, danced the Waltz

ND: When you first learned you’d be doing ballroom dancing in dance, what did you think? 

Tierra:  That it was boring because I wasn’t used to this kind of dance. I was used to hip hop kind of dance.

ND: How did you first feel about holding the (boys) in frame? 

Tierra:  I felt kinda nervous and shy, I didn’t want to. 

ND: Did your attitude change about it?

Tierra:  Yeah, I think it’s fun now; I like the music, I liked the Swing. 

ND: How often did you practice?  

Tierra:  At home I practiced once or twice with my sister.  I practiced the waltz, with my sister, but she didn’t get it.  I practiced on my expression and smiling.   

ND: Tell me about the competition; Were you surprised by anything?   

Tierra:  I just knew I had to keep smiling.  There were a lot of people there.

ND: Would you like to continue ballroom dancing?    Why? 

Tierra: Yes, now that I know the dances, I like the dances.  Yes, I like dancing with the boys, it’s nice.   My hips and attitude are things that I want to keep practicing. 

Tierra has a twin sister, Kierra, who will be joining the afterschool Ballroom Dance practice sessions from now on, too!

Jenovia, female age 11, danced the Rumba.

ND: When you first learned you’d be doing ballroom dancing in dance, what did you think? 

Jenovia:  I felt excited because I really wanted to get a chance to be in a competition. 

ND: How often did you practice? 

Jenovia: I practiced a lot throughout the week. I practiced every day. 

ND: Tell me about the competition; Were you surprised by anything?   

Jenovia: The stage.  I couldn’t believe it.

ND: Would you like to continue ballroom dancing?   

Jenovia: Yes, it’s a fun way to learn things and get to know my classmates in a different way.  You’re concentrating, but you’re having fun while you’re concentrating.  I love it!

Jenovia has a younger sister, in first grade that often watched rehearsals after school. 

                       Jayana, age 11, danced the Fox Trot.

ND: When you first learned you’d be doing ballroom dancing in dance, what did you think? 

Jayana: I thought it was going to be really hard.  But, when I learned the dances themselves, I thought they were really hard, like the Merengue eight-count step made me have to concentrate.  I really had to concentrate on the steps, like the turn, the three o’clock, six o’clock and nine o’clock. I was excited! 

ND: How did you first feel about holding the (boys) in frame? 

Jayana: I wasn’t excited, excited, I didn’t really want to dance with boys.

Did your attitude change about it?

Jayana: Yeah, I just started dancing with everybody.

How often did you practice? 

Jayana: I practiced an hour a day.  

Tell me about the competition; Were you surprised by anything?   

Jayana: I was just shy about dancing and getting up in front of other people, like the kids from the other schools.  But, it was exciting, too.

Would you like to continue ballroom dancing?   

Jayana: Yes, I want to learn more steps. 

Jayana has four sisters and three brothers.  She said she’d told her one of her closest sisters about it because she sees her the most.  

Jermaine, age 11, Fox Trot

ND: When you first learned you’d be doing ballroom dancing in dance, what did you think? 

Jermaine:  Important, definitely something that I could do really well. 

ND: How did you first feel about holding the (girls) in frame? 

Jermaine:  I didn’t mind at all.  I like it because I know that we have to lead and know the dance.

Raheem, age 11, Rumba & Shamari, age 11, Merengue

ND: When you first learned you’d be doing ballroom dancing in dance, what did you think? 

Raheem: At first I thought it was going to be kind of lame, but then it was cool.

ND: What made it cool?

Raheem: The music and the steps.  The guys leading the dances. 

ND: Tell me about the competition; Were you surprised by anything?    

Raheem:  The stage was huge. I’ve never seen a stage like that before.  And it was cool, with the light shining down on us when we danced. 

Shamari: Yea, I couldn’t believe the place.

ND: Would you like to continue ballroom dancing?   

Shamari: Yes definitely, I want to continue. 

ND: What are some things you can practice to be a better ballroom dancer?

Raheem: Like things like practicing your expression and posture of each dance.  I like the swing, the boogie walks!   

Sharmari: Yeah, The Latin dances, I like those, but the Swing was my favorite. 

Raheem: Yeah, learning how to move your hips, the hip motion is real important.

It goes without saying that we were literally “having a ball”.  The program was so successful in keeping the kids physically and mentally stimulated that I plan to continue teaching ballroom dance after school twice a week. I learned that the emotions and thoughts that I’d felt inspired by while watching the movie Mad Hot Ballroom were real and true.  Every boy is yearning to be a gentleman.  Every girl should know how pretty and valuable she is.  If ballroom dancing makes this tangible for our youth, than we need to keep at this trend with vengeance. 

Related Stories:

Ballroom Dancing Comes to Chicago Public Schools by Celeste Garrett

Having A Ball at Madison Elementary School by Natalie Davis

Featuring: Madison Elementary and Natalie Davis--"Having a Ball" by Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth