Youngsters hop to it with after-school dance routine

It’s all about the kick, 8-year-old Aundrea Correa said, demonstrating with her right leg, toe pointed. She wobbled, enthusiasm overtaking balance after her very first dance lesson.

“That was fun!” proclaimed first-grader Jada Fuller, 6.

Both girls got Tuesday’s introductory message at the Chrysler Elementary after-school dance lesson: Motions can show feelings and dancing is fun.

“A lot of it is connecting them to movement. It’s not about precise technique or lines,” said Central West Ballet dancer Carolin Koepplin, 23. “It’s really about connecting the heart to the feet.”

Koepplin, a professional dancer with a bachelor’s degree in ballet, is one of four dancers giving Stanislaus Union elementary students free group lessons after school. Central West Ballet provides three dancers through its Arts in Education Outreach Program. The school district pays for the fourth.

The class started with a so-called monkey dance to “I Wanna be Like You” from Disney’s “The Jungle Book” – lots of elbow and knee waggles, hip wiggles and ear-to-ear smiles. True to Koepplin’s word, the technique had none of the tight lines of classic ballet, but the four dancers flowed together seamlessly. By the end of class, kids were following along, more or less.

“It’s a lot of fun, but it also takes a lot of teamwork. It takes strength, flexibility and a lot of discipline,” ballerina Erikka Reenstierna-Cates, 20, told the group.

Being part of a dance troupe means long hours rehearsing six days a week, said Britney Ebster, 17. Practice starts with lots of drills, added the fourth dance teacher, Brian Ebster, 12.

Some 25 kindergarten through third-grade students took part in the first “BEATS: An After School Class of Rhythm and Dance” lesson Tuesday. A group of fourth- through sixth-graders will get to wiggle and kick on Thursdays through September. After a break for a production, the second session will start in late October.

All told, about 250 students have seats on Chrysler’s multipurpose room floor this fall, said Stanislaus Union Superintendent Britta Skavdahl.

“This program will repeat starting in January at Prescott Junior High for students in grades seven and eight. The district is very excited about this community partnership with Central West Ballet – a great opportunity for our students!” Skavdahl said by email.

Mom Muna Haddad said her son Nweiser loves break-dancing and takes gymnastics. “When I heard they had dance lessons, I thought, ‘Awesome!’ ” she said. Nweiser was one of two boys at the session.

“She’s so excited to get to do actual ballet,” Shaleen Narayan said of daughter Sejal, 5. “She likes dancing to cartoons,” she said.

Students practiced a few classic ballet stances, such as squats with feet turned out, before getting to cut loose with an all-class rendition of the monkey dance.

While the flailing arms and stilted kicks may have looked like just plain fun, academics also figured in the plan, said Central West Ballet Board member Karin Reenstierna.

“Dance aligns really well with the sequential learning process of Common Core, plus studies from The Arts Education Partnership find that students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and English-language learners show the greatest relative improvement in academic achievement when participating in the arts,” Reenstierna said.

“It won’t be ballet. We’ll introduce creative ways to understand rhythm and keep the beat, and use contemporary music,” she said. The classes split grades to allow the program to teach to each group’s age level, and both will include healthy eating discussions.

Whatever they include, Jeanine Dean said her granddaughter Zoey Zipser will enjoy it. “She likes anything, as long as she’s moving,” Dean said.

This story was originally published September 2, 2014 at 9:28 PM with the headline "Youngsters hop to it with after-school dance routine."