Welcome

“Dancing is about connections … to our friends, to our families, to our neighbors. It is one of the most expressive ways we celebrate and communicate our cultures and communities. With Dancing Classrooms, we are able to reach children in existing classroom settings and address fundamental issues of mutual respect and self-esteem – issues that social dance puts into practice. We hope to inspire children through dance to do well, to respect one another, to be proud. This program is about more than dance, it is about teaching children to take a bow.”

- Pierre Dulaine & Yvonne Marceau 

 The Dancing Classrooms Story

Dancing Classrooms was launched in 1994 as a not-for-profit project of the American Ballroom Theater Company. It is an arts-in-education program teaching ballroom dance to the upper elementary school students of participating schools. As seen in the documentary film Mad Hot Ballroom, Dancing Classrooms is an in-school residency for every child, regardless of background or experience.

While Dancing Classrooms has been hailed as an effective program for teaching social dance, the program provides many other benefits. Dancing Classrooms is about creating an atmosphere which allows students who are typically introverted and reserved, to step out and shine. It focuses physical energies and increases health through the joy of movement.

 Mission

Our mission is to build social awareness, confidence and self-esteem in children through the practice of social dance.

Through standards based, in-school residencies, we use the vocabulary of ballroom dance to cultivate the positive feelings that are inherent in every child. The maturity necessary to dance together fosters respect, team work, confidence and a sense of joy and accomplishment, that we hope to bring to every child. Ballroom dance is the medium we use to nurture these qualities.