St. William students
embrace dance program

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

The 35 fifth-graders at St. William Catholic School in Lawndale were understandably uncertain earlier this year when they were told they’d be taking part in a 10-week course on ballroom dancing.
The youngsters not only had to learn the fox trot, merengue, rumba, tango, swing, stomp, heel-toe polka and waltz, they had to do it holding hands with a classmate.
"I wasn’t really sure of it, the awkwardness of dancing with girls," said Kieron Pleis. "But once it started and we got used to it, it was really fun."
Sister Catherine Clark, principal at St. William, secured a grant to bring Dancing Classrooms to the school.
The program began in New York and became more popular with the release of the 2005 documentary Mad Hot Ballroom. It expanded to other American cities, including Philadelphia.
In the fall of 2007, the program was offered at 14 Philadelphia schools, including John Hancock and Christ the King in Morrell Park. The top dancers advanced to a citywide competition at the Merriam Theater.
This spring, the program came to more city schools, including St. William and Kennedy C. Crossan in Burholme.
Joyce Burd, co-executive director of Dancing Classrooms Philly, said the class teaches youngsters to be polite and to focus on the dance and make eye contact with their partners.
The class, she hopes, will lead to a lifelong interest in ballroom dancing for some students. More immediate, she thinks the class can be an activity that helps discourage violence.
"This can be a very positive force in their lives," she said. "It’s a wonderful, wonderful program."
The 21 boys and 14 girls in fifth grade at St. William, along with teacher Kathy McDonough, learned under the direction of instructor Ollie Barnett. They practiced during 20 sessions, held for 50 minutes every Monday and Wednesday.
The finale took place last week in the parish hall in front of third- and fourth-graders and 100 family members and invited guests, including Monsignor Nelson Perez, the pastor.
The hall was decorated for the occasion, and the students did the fox trot to Frank Sinatra’s The Way You Look Tonight and danced the swing to Ray Charles’ Hit the Road Jack. They even did the Electric Slide with their parents.
McDonough referred to her students as "Freds" and "Gingers," alluding to the famed dance team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
She even joked that, "This old dog learned new tricks," acknowledging that, before the class started, she thought merengue was a frothy topping for lemon pie.
The teacher credited Barnett — whom she called St. William’s "soul man" — with instilling civility and respect for others while also promoting self-esteem. She knows how hard it is to control a classroom of 35 students and thinks Barnett’s patience and positive reinforcement benefited the students.
"A lot of them came out of their shell," she said. "Their self-esteem elevated."
Since there were more boys than girls, the class consisted of 14 dancing duos and seven boys who had to shadow dance.
In the beginning, some of the children were more interested in the dancing than the others. Soon, though, those youngsters won over their skeptical classmates.
"Their enthusiasm became contagious," McDonough said.
McDonough and Barnett made the very tough decision of selecting 12 students to advance to the city semifinals, scheduled for Thursday, May 22, at Community Academy of Philadelphia in Juniata.
The St. William representatives are Timothy Butwin, Marcus Scruggs, Nicholas Grimaldi, Jimmy Phan, Timothy Brooks, Kieron Pleis, Nyjaee Carn, Christiana Cruz, Brianna Dailey, Julia Halbherr, Jasmine Raj and Taylor Scruggs.
The winners of this week’s competition advance to the finals, set for May 31 at Drexel University.
Timothy Butwin said the students forgot some steps during early practices and talked sometimes when they should have been listening to Barnett, but they put it all together for their family last week.
"It was very exciting to show our parents what we learned," he said. "I can’t wait to go to the semifinals."
Barnett, who competes in ballroom dancing, said the boys learn respect for the girls as they escort them to the dance floor. He believes both boys and girls learned etiquette, once they agreed to dance together.
"In the beginning, they wouldn’t even touch each other," he said.
Barnett said the students improved as the class went on and were respectful of him as the instructor. The performance in front of the families went well, he believes.
The students agreed they could not have improved and performed as well as they did had it not been for Barnett’s professionalism and leadership.
"He was very nice and helped us if we had trouble with the dances," said Brianna Dailey.
Barnett hopes Dancing Classrooms Philly continues to grow.
"I hope more and more schools get involved," he said. ••