Nov. 29, 2018 -- Fairfax Elementary School fifth graders displayed their ballroom dancing skills for a crowd of staff, students and families as the culmination of their 10-week Dancing Classrooms course.
Sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic, Dancing Classrooms uses dance instruction as a tool to teach respect for self and others, teamwork, leadership, confidence, and self-esteem. Professional dance instructors visited the students twice a week for 50-minute sessions to teach them the merengue, foxtrot, rumba, tango, swing and waltz, while incorporating social development into the lessons. Teacher Kristi Glasier secured grant dollars from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, the Fairfax PTA and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to cover the $7,500 fee.
Between dances during the November 19 performance, several students read from personal journal entries on what the dance class meant to them. They finished with a surprise line dance, and then the crowd joined them for the Macarena.