feature stories

May I have this dance?

by Ellie Spielberg

May 8, 2008 12:47 PM

Ballroom program helps city kids embrace learning

“Yecch! I’m not touching you, you’re ugly!” So goes the highly nuanced response of the average 8th-grader facing a dance partner for the first time, according to teacher Evelyn Alvarez, who sponsors the American Ballroom Theater program at JHS 45 in East Harlem.

Add to that the gawky bloom of adolescence, two left feet, and the fact that “the kids don’t come from a ballroom dance culture and don’t know the first thing about it,” Alvarez says.

You’d think it was a recipe for disaster.

And then the magic begins. Twice a week, two classes of 30 kids each are immersed in 50 minutes of dance lessons during the school day for 20 weeks, taught by Xavier, a one-named professional dancer from program headquarters. Alvarez gets relieved from her SAVE room duties for two periods to work with him and the kids, and after school takes over as coach.

The mission of the American Ballroom Theater — which has 60 teaching artists in more than 200 city schools — is to promote social awareness, confidence and self-esteem in kids via dance.

But if you want to get onto your school’s dance team, you can’t drag your feet or dig in your heels. Only the committed need apply. Kids have to write essays about why they want to dance and visit the dance studio in Midtown. Back on home turf, they have to walk the walk — or waltz the waltz, rather.

Then the elimination process begins, weeding out all who don’t really have the heart for it, until those 60 kids are reduced to just six boys and six girls, all dressed up with somewhere to go: a fierce, high-stakes citywide championship that takes place on June 21.

School teams compete, working their way up to the semifinals, which was held for seven schools on April 15 at JHS 45. Alvarez’s team made the cuts and is gearing up for the final competition.

The hopes, dreams and drama of that competition charmed audiences of thousands when the movie “Mad Hot Ballroom” came out in 2005.

Alvarez was among the charmed. “I was overwhelmed by the movie and asked my principal if we could start the program in our school and she agreed and it’s been going on here ever since. We’re in our third year now,” she said.

One of the program’s requirements is that a regular classroom teacher has to serve as sponsor and after-school dance coach. Alvarez took it on without a second thought.

“It’s been wonderful. I become closer to the kids and see them mature so much, see them take a liking to something they never thought they’d like, that I thought they’d never get into. I get to see the growth in the kids and that’s fulfilling to me. At the end they’re dancing close, learning new social skills and can reach out to all different cultures,” she said.

Learning the history of each dance and a bit about the culture that spawned it is just as important as mastering the steps, be it the tango from Argentina, the rumba from Cuba, the foxtrot from America via Scotland, the salsa from Puerto Rico, the waltz from Austria, the merengue from the Dominican Republic, and swing, which was born right around the corner in Harlem during the 1930s.

Before you know it, the kids get their groove on. Moving their hips from side to side in time to the merengue’s beat. Walking the two steps and executing the side-together of the foxtrot. Mastering the box-step, side-to-side of the rumba. The three walks, side-close-no-weight of the tango. The side-side, back-rock slow-slow-quick-quick of swing. And of course, they learn to glide to the lovely, old-fashioned, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 of the waltz.

Now they’ve made it to the finals and are ready for the big day.

Anyone who saw “Mad Hot Ballroom” knows that the competition is a huge event for these young dancers.

Whether they are shedding tears of disappointment or of joy, the kids who refused to touch each other on that first day will be crying in each other’s arms.