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Goal

GOAL: To help provide proper shoes and dance costumes for magnet dance students at John Hopkins Middle School, Center for the Arts.  

 

What will be done with my students

Money from this grant will go towards purchasing dance costumes and shoes for magnet focus dance students at John Hopkins Middle School Center for the Arts. Students in the dance program take technique classes every day in ballet, jazz, modern, hip-hop and Progressing Ballet Technique. This funding will assist those students whose families may not have the means to purchase the required dance shoes: ballet slippers, and jazz shoes. This year, we have thirty-four new 6th grade dancers and many of them need assistance with dance shoes for class.

As we head into the new year, students need to have the proper dance shoes for class and performances for the 2023-2024 school year. Some of our John Hopkins families need assistance in providing their dancers with shoes that can be quite costly.

We also want to be able to share our performances with family and friends to support the hard work of the dancers. A portion of this grant will go towards providing a digital recording service for our Winter and Spring dance concerts. Dance is a fleeting arts form. If it is not captured in a recording, it is lost forever. It is extremely important to have professional recordings of our performances for educational, promotional, and historical purposes.
 

 

Benefits to my students

For dance students in a magnet performing arts program, proper dance attire is an important element in their dance education. The proper dance attire enables the teacher to see the dancers' positions and movement in order to give necessary corrections to help the dancer advance in their craft and increase their knowledge and performance levels. It creates a professional environment in the studio and helps the student understand that they are coming to a structured class, ready to learn. Dance shoes are equally important when studying dance. Along with the reasons mentioned above, ballet and jazz shoes allow the dancer’s foot to properly and safely perform the necessary movements in the respective techniques. There is no substitute for dance shoes in technique class. Socks are a hazard as they are too slippery on the studio dance floor and street shoes do not allow the dancer’s feet the proper mobility.

We also perform on stage in full costume. This provides them with the opportunity to experience the performance element of dance, where the magic of performing art lives. Costumes bring a level of professionalism and excitement! It transforms the dancers to the next level in the art they are trying to convey. Over the past couple of years, Hopkins’ dancers have been invited to perform at Ruth Eckerd Hall at former superintendent, Dr. Grego’s retirement celebration, at the Mahaffey Theater as the opening performers for Walker’s Rising Stars, and for Superintendent Hendrick’s Leadership Summit.
Having a professional recording of these performances provides an opportunity to share the art of dance and the accomplishments the dancers have made throughout the year with extended family and friends. The week after the performance, a private link of the recording will be sent out to our dance families to share with extended family members and friends that may live too far away to attend in person, or unable to attend because of health reasons. This has shown to grow a sense of pride in the dancer’s and in what they have accomplished and they look forward to being able to share their joy of performing with family and friends.  

 

Describe the Students

The students in the John Hopkins Dance Program are an eclectic group of dancers that come from all over Pinellas County. A large portion of the students are members of low income families from the south side of St. Petersburg. Their academic records vary, most of them on grade level or just below.

Having the opportunity to study dance in school as a valid, important art form during their academic day is extremely important. There are many studies that show physical activity boosts academic performance. Students who are more active, demonstrate greater attention, have faster cognitive processing speed, and perform better on standardized tests than those who are less active. Dance is more than just physical activity. It is a vehicle of self-expression and creativity. The National Dance Education Organization cites that “Through dance education, students develop focus, concentration, discipline, creativity, problem-solving skills, self-assessment skills, and the desire to do well. In addition, students learn to remember patterns, sequences, relationships, forms, and structures. These transfer into other areas of learning and achievement. Many of the Multiple Intelligences proffered by Howard Gardner are addressed in the core dance experience. It has been demonstrated that children who are kinesthetic learners learn effectively through movement experiences. It has also been found that many children from multi-cultural or minority populations are kinesthetic learners (Park, 1997, 2000, and White, 1992). As these populations expand in American schools, dance education can help close the gap to equalize academic achievement among students.”

I include all of this information, because I believe that dance class is time well spent and an education worth having for all students. It is essential that they have the proper attire to do so.  

 

Budget Narrative

All of the dance items are found on Amazon and at Discount Dance. They can be ordered quickly with minimum shipping costs. I am asking for ballet and jazz shoes because previous grants from the Foundation supported the purchase of jazz and ballet shoes and many of them can be used again this year, but some of them are too old to be worn again.

The recording service is an estimated figure. Most recording services range between $50 - $200 per hour. 

 

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