Culture through Ballroom Dance
News and Events
The following article appreared on the Liberty North High School Website. October 9, 2012
Dancing the Day Away
Spanish, World History, and all PE activity class students got to experience first hand some of the culture they had learned about throughout the year as Liberty North hosted its first ever Dance Day on October 9. Students from each of these classes got the unique opportunity to take a break from normal class activities during Homecoming and were able to experience a variety of different dance styles, ranging from Bachata, a Dominican Republic dance; Merengue, a Latin dance, and many other varieties of dances.
“Learning about different cultures is a part of the grade level expectations for of the classes involved and we thought this would be a fun way for students to experience the culture,” PE Teacher Mrs. Sorens said.
Dancing might seem like drudgery for students ,but many students seemed to have a fun time. And though this day was supposed to be a great learning experience for students, it also became a great way for students to meet other students they may have not known before.
“It was a great experience that was a lot of fun. It was fun to experience a lot of different dance styles and the mixer part allowed me to meet a lot of new people,” Senior Tiffanne Mac Donald said.
The students who participated experienced a wide variety of different dances. Students found some of these dances to be very enjoyable.
“I liked the Bachata mixer the most because we got to dance with, and meet, a lot of people,” Senior Jessica Bonnot said.
If students are interested in more opportunities to experience the different musical styles experienced today, Dance Club is hosting an Ice Cream Social on October 16.
WILLIAM JEWELL BALL
Monday, April 23rd, 2012 the first ever Ball was held by the William Jewell Ballroom Dance class. It was open to the public and ballroom dancers from across the metro area attended and danced with the college ballroom dancers. The event was declared a succes by all who particpated!
LIberty High Schools Update:
Fall semester 2011 and Spring Semester 2012 saw the continuation of dance lessons at both Liberty High and LIberty North High schools. This occured both in after school classes as well as dance lessons scheduled during coed PE classes. For High School Students we concentrate on Latin dancing to both Latin and Pop Music as well as Swing Dance. These are skills they can use at their normal high school dances.
670 Foreign Language students in South Valley Junior High students in Liberty Missouri learned to dance the Merengue and Polka on May 15th, 2012!
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IAfter School Dance class at Liberty High School, Feb. 2011. Good going Liberty High, and Liberty North! See article in the Liberty Tribune. http://www.kccommunitynews.com/liberty-tribune/26887834/detail.html
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Delano Ballroom Dance Festival, April 2011
Dance instructor, Brandon White dances with wheelchair partners to inspire students in wheelchairs. See the Video Gallery page for videos of Brandon and the Delano students dancing.
Thanks to Mary Spencer for the above pictures! Many thanks also to our wheelchair and special needs teacher, Brandon White, leading the class in the above picture.
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2010 BALLROOM DANCE FESTIVAL!
Tuesday May 11th, 7 pm, the KCMO School District's 40 th annual Performing Arts Festival presented the 5th annual ballroom dance performance at Southwest Early College Campus, 6512 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO 64113. The dancers all did a fabulous job. In addition, the 2010 show also included a special wheelchair dancing presentation. For video, see our "Pictures and Video" page.
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Fall Semester 2010
So far this semester we have the following elementary schools in the Kansas City Missourin School District participating: Attucks, Border Star, Delano, Foreign Language Academy, Gladstone, Holliday, James, Paige, Rogers and Wheatley. All but 2 of those are sponsored by LINC.
In addition we so far have 4 high school partcipating, Liberty High School and Liberty North, as well as Delano High School students and East High in the KCMO District. We anticipate 2 more high schools by next semester. At Delano we are very proud to have highly regarded special needs dance instructor, Brandon White, to assist us in teaching an entire classroom of wheelchair dancers and their partners. They are making great progress; thank you Brandon!
2009 / 2010 Particpating Schools
Attucks Elementary, Border Star, Foreign Language Academy, and Gladstone Academy from the Kansas City, Missouri School District. Funding was in short supply to start with, but thanks to an incoming grant, a significant donation and help from LINC, we were later able to add classes in Ladd, Pinkerton, and Swinney elementary schools. In addition, Southwest Early College Campus joined in late in the semester with Latin dance lessons and participated in the Ballroom Dance Festival for the 1st time.
All of the 6th graders at Center School District Middle School also took ballroom dancing this school year and gave a fabulous performance to show off their new skills.
Area school districts have been severly hit by budget cuts so we would ask any possible sponsors to check out our "How You Can Help" page.
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