UCI program allows young dancers to shine
The kids stood patiently in four lines watching as their teacher, UC Irvine undergraduate student Irishia Hubbard, snaked across the floor demonstrating the dance move they were about to perform.
“Right, back, right,” she yelled as they began to shake their hips and twist their bodies. “Left, back, left!”
It may be summer, but these 35 children, ages 8 through 12, were hard at work in the Irvine dance studio practicing their posesand perfecting their jazz moves. Next door, 22 children, ages 5 through 8, worked on jazz hands and jumping jacks – without it costing their parents a penny.
The kids were chosen out of around 130 applicants to strut their stuff in the Shining Stars Summer Dance Program, created by Hubbard, 21, and recent UCI graduate Nicole Rivor, 21, of San Diego to provide an intimate, noncompetitive and free dance training experience for underprivileged youth. The weeklong program kicked off at UCI’s campus on Aug. 10 and culminated in a final dance showcase Saturday.
Hubbard said her motivation for creating the program stemmed from her work with the Boys & Girls Club of Fountain Valley, where she has taught dance since January.
“I got to teach a lot of different students that don’t come from the typical dance background, but many of them really had a passion for dance and actually had a lot of talent to excel within dance,” she said. “So I decided I wanted to start a program here that would allow them to get to know what all is in the dance world.”
Throughout the week, seven instructors – all UCI undergrads or recent grads – taught ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop classes. In addition to providing free lunch, the program also included daily creative workshop sessions about improvisation, cultural dances, body image, possible dance careers and university life with a tour of the campus.
Five students at the end of the week were selected to receive scholarships to attend dance classes at DanceLova in Irvine.
“We as a society subscribe to the idea that you have to be in the sciences to be successful in order to make a lot of money, but sometimes that has a lot of stigma for people who come from single-parent households,” Rivor said. “A lot of people don’t realize that [dance] is a career.”
UCI’s Claire Trevor School for the Arts provided the studios while the rest of the costs were covered through donations, partnerships with outreach organizations, and fundraising through a GoFundMe account. While a program of this nature typically costs around $8,000, they were able to run it for around $3,500, said Sheron Wray, a dance professor and faculty mentor for the program.
“It’s just a delight to see the kids [on the first day] all kind of lined up and apprehensive and some not quite sure what they are doing here and to see the undergrads eager to teach and get to know these children,” Wray said. “The children [can] see other somewhat older, but young, people who for them this is their passion, this is their world, this is what they are studying, this is their ambition to take art into the world.”
“Reach up like a star!” shouted Molly Gray, 19, of Los Olivos to her students as they waved their hands in the air and bounced around to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” blasting in the background. “And crash like a meteor – a little faster!”
“Who isn’t happy when they’re dancing?” Gray said. “Everyone has this giant smile when dancing and we get to give that to these kids who forget what it’s like to be a kid sometimes and forget what it’s like to have that kind of happiness.”
Those smiles were obvious as boys and girls of various ages and dance levels – many decked out in brightly colored socks and T-shirts – clapped their hands, tapped their feet, and grooved to the beat of the music. While many children were nervous on the first day of the program, by day two they were making friends and excited to dance, Hubbard said.
“We don’t want to just sit around all day watching TV and eating Cheetos,” Sofia Garcia, 10, of Santa Ana said. “Doing jazz and also doing tap dancing is pretty fun since you get to do all the different types of dance moves and tap with your feet and exercise your muscles.”
The program also helped to instill kids with the confidence to stand up and be proud of who they are.
“I want to do dance as a career and I get bullied at school, so I want to show them I can actually do something else,” said Mia Talley, 12, of Huntington Beach. “You have fun [when dancing] and don’t have to think about anything, you just do what you like.”
While this is the program’s first year, Hubbard and Rivor said that they intend to make it an annual affair on campus.
“We are giving them this connection, this kind of hope and realization that there is more than just their current situation,” Gray said, pausing to add with a laugh, “I think the world would be a much better place if everyone would just dance with each other every once in a while.”
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/dance-678762-program-around.html