I came up with the idea of starting a dance club my Junior year when I started thinking about what I wanted to do for capstone. I really had no clue what exactly I wanted to do but I Just knew I wanted to do something that involved dance, because it is my passion. Once senior year started I started planning out the dance club. Then I came up with the idea of changing it to just middle school students, since I have always liked being around kids. My initial idea was to do it after school. I met with kids during school, and went into their classrooms to tell them about the meeting and when they were. The first two meetings I planned and announced after school, no one showed up to. I was getting really discouraged because I figured that no one was interested in my club. I just knew that there had to be some kids that wanted to learn how to dance, so I didn’t stop trying to plan meeting. I talked to Mrs. Bertero and Mrs. Boutilier and they both told me that I should try having the meeting during Tiger time, so it was convenient for the kids.
At our first meeting there were five kids that came: Emily, Joevanni, Ailyn, Angie, and Shinning. Those five kids came to all of the meetings throughout the whole year. Shinning and Joevanni had some dance experience. Joevanni dances mostly Spanish styles which are totally different for me, and Shinning did ballet and tap which I do. I was nervous in the beginning about having to choreograph for kids that don’t know much about dance. I also didn’t know what styles to do in the beginning. I thought I would do ballet, tap, jazz, and modern. Then as I started teaching these kids and learning more about them I could see that they weren’t huge fans of ballet, and they had no interest in tap. In our show we are doing jazz and modern, then we are doing a Spanish dance that Joevanni taught us.
Throughout this whole experience I learned that I can be a leader. Before this project I was never really forced to take charge, but now I am in charge of the middle school dance club, and I actually had to be a leader for them. I learned how to have a healthy balance of being in charge, but still being their friends and having fun during dance. These kids showed me that I can be relaxed while still being the one in charge. I learned that I do have the power to affect children's lives. The parents of the kids told me that I did change their children and that now they go home and start dancing around the house. Hearing that is everything and more that I wanted out of this project. I wanted to show these kids the love I have for dance and help them find that same love, and I did that for some of these kids. Over the time span that I have been in charge of dance club, I started to become close to these kids. Starting my day off with them three times a week always brightened my day. I love these kids and I see this club as a dance family. I am sad to see it come to an end, but I am happy that I got to have these amazing experiences with them and that they see it this way too.
At our first meeting there were five kids that came: Emily, Joevanni, Ailyn, Angie, and Shinning. Those five kids came to all of the meetings throughout the whole year. Shinning and Joevanni had some dance experience. Joevanni dances mostly Spanish styles which are totally different for me, and Shinning did ballet and tap which I do. I was nervous in the beginning about having to choreograph for kids that don’t know much about dance. I also didn’t know what styles to do in the beginning. I thought I would do ballet, tap, jazz, and modern. Then as I started teaching these kids and learning more about them I could see that they weren’t huge fans of ballet, and they had no interest in tap. In our show we are doing jazz and modern, then we are doing a Spanish dance that Joevanni taught us.
Throughout this whole experience I learned that I can be a leader. Before this project I was never really forced to take charge, but now I am in charge of the middle school dance club, and I actually had to be a leader for them. I learned how to have a healthy balance of being in charge, but still being their friends and having fun during dance. These kids showed me that I can be relaxed while still being the one in charge. I learned that I do have the power to affect children's lives. The parents of the kids told me that I did change their children and that now they go home and start dancing around the house. Hearing that is everything and more that I wanted out of this project. I wanted to show these kids the love I have for dance and help them find that same love, and I did that for some of these kids. Over the time span that I have been in charge of dance club, I started to become close to these kids. Starting my day off with them three times a week always brightened my day. I love these kids and I see this club as a dance family. I am sad to see it come to an end, but I am happy that I got to have these amazing experiences with them and that they see it this way too.