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Learning With Their Feet: Milam Students Supplement Education With Dance

Posted on: Monday, 10 April 2006, 18:00 CDT

By David J. Lee, Odessa American, Texas

Apr. 10--To Suzanne Castle-Rolen, dance is an opportunity to further the classroom education of students at Milam Magnet Elementary.

"One of the things we're trying to do is solidify what they're learning in the classroom," she said.

For instance, if the students are learning about science -- Castle-Rolen's minor in college -- she can tie that in to the dance lessons she gives as part of Milam's dance magnet program.

"If they're learning about revolutions and rotation of the earth, I can teach them through revolutions and rotation of their bodies," she said.

And if the students are studying a particular time period, Castle-Rolen said she can focus on social dances from that period.

Even more, though, the Milam dance teacher said she can teach students about themselves.

"Society puts a lot of emphasis on the perfect body," she said. "If we can capture them when they're young, we can teach them that any body style can move.

"I don't have a dancer's body -- I'm not 100 pounds and 5'7"," she said. "We talk about that. Confidence helps. I've already seen a difference."

Castle-Rolen teaches ballet, tap, jazz, stomp, hip-hop, Broadway, lyric, and modern dance to first- through sixth-graders.

The school's dance team, Fusion, is made up of 13 fourth- to sixth-grade girls, all A-average students, who are preparing for their first competition later this month -- Fire and Ice from April 28 to 30 in Arlington.

Even that competition, though, fits in with the educational theme Castle-Rolen tries to perpetuate in her classes.

"This competition focuses on education," she said. "A lot of competitions get a little fierce, and the girls get worn out."

At Fire and Ice, however, the students will choose three classes to take -- all taught by choreographers from throughout the world.

"If they shine in front of the choreographer, they have an opportunity to get a scholarship to the Broadway Dance Center in New York," said Castle-Rolen, who is formerly a professional ballerina herself.

At the competition, the students will also perform a dance they've been arduously rehearsing in Milam's brand-new state-of-the-art dance studio.

The students, in tight black pants, black shirts, as well as black dancing shoes, slide across the hardwood floors of the studio before two wall-length mirrors. The heavy thump of music is joined by the beat of stomping feet and the sight of flinging hands and arms swinging in time to popular songs.

"The stuff we do is just fun," Gabby Leyva, 11, said. The fifth-grader is in her first year on the dance team and said she looks forward to more.

Courtney Williams, 10, on the other hand, has been dancing since she was 3 years old.

"I love the rush and how much fun it is," she said, adding that she's looking forward to the competition later this month. "I want to hear the judge's comments and take classes with the professionals."

Miranda Jackson, a two-year veteran of Fusion, she's thoroughly enjoyed the dance program at Milam.

"I enjoy having my friends in it and getting to go different places," she said. "I've got a good teacher, and I've got an opportunity to be on different dance teams in junior high."

Which is something Castle-Rolen said she's proud of.

"I don't think a lot of people in Odessa know how fortunate Odessa is to have a performing arts elementary, junior high and high school," she said. "In a lot of cities, you'd have to go to a private school. I hope the community continues to support it."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Odessa American, Texas

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Source: Odessa American

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