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Afterschool Dance will assist both organizations in
achieving these missions through programming that promotes
physical activity, health lifestyles, creative
accomplishment, teamwork in a non-contact activity, and
inspiration for underserved youth in Toledo. The program
will run weekly one-hour classes for 24 weeks, from October
2017 – May 2018 for BGCT members ages nine -12.
Designed to be accessible to students of all skill levels,
participants will sample a wide variety of dance forms from
ballet to hip hop and build on lessons from previous weeks,
emphasizing the importance of physical exercise as well as
improving balance, motor skills, strength, and agility.
The program will be taught by Toledo Ballet faculty member
and company principal dancer Domonique Glover. Glover, the
valedictorian of the Scott High School class of 2004, is a
graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta with a B.A. in
mathematics. He currently teaches math at Horizon Science
Academy.
The generous grant covers expenses for equipment necessary
to execute the program, including portable dance barres,
mirrors, and a “fat head” of American Ballet Theater’s first
African-American principal dancer, Misty Copeland, that will
be installed on the wall of the gym where the club’s
athletic activities and the dance program will take place.
“I am so pleased that the TCF Board of Trustees sees the
inherent value of this dance program,” said Toledo Ballet
Executive Director Mari Davies. “The fact that the nation’s
most famous ballerina, Misty Copeland, was first exposed to
ballet at a Boys and Girls Club speaks to the amazing
opportunities such exposure lends. We can’t wait until next
fall to see this program take flight.” |
