Friday was a day of dance, diversity and scholarship at D.C. Public Schools’ second annual dance festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.
“I think that it gives kids confidence,” said Nadirah Rahman, dance teacher at Excel Academy. “To be able to stand in front of this audience and perform translates into raising your hand and asking a question, and being able to stand up and present a project later on translates to going into a job interview and feeling confident about yourself.”
The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend event also featured a diversity of dance styles from Native American to West African. Students spent the day in workshops learning the choreography, culminating in a recital showcasing what they learned.
What an evening of joy & learning at @dcpublicschools Dance Festival! Students spent the day in workshops at @AtlasPACDC and ended their day with a recital! They learned all of the choreography today 😱👏 Story coming @WTOP pic.twitter.com/JJ6YJlsqvX
— Cheyenne Corin ✨ (@CheyenneCorin) January 12, 2024
“We’re preparing our students to be not just dancers, but to be global leaders, who have to be able to communicate, and understand different people who speak different language[s] and work all together,” Rahman said. “The other thing about this conference that was so nice, in each group were students from different schools. And they came together and worked together.”
The students ranged from the third grade to 12th grade and, while the students participated in their school’s dance classes or programs, they were not all experienced dancers.
Of the 80 kids who participated, Whittier Elementary School student Julie Singletary said she loved the festival.
“It was like a challenge … for me. But I kept on practicing and I got it. And it started just getting easier for me,” Singletary said.
Eight students also received scholarships to help further their arts education through intensive training courses with Elements Urban Arts Collective and Joy of Motion.
“This will give the scholars to further their interest and explore the answer,” DCPS Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said. “And as I share with them today, we want them to take this experience and keep going.”
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