Nine teams of fifth-grade students representing Pittsburgh Public Schools competed in the Dancing Classrooms Pittsburgh Colors of the Rainbow Semi-Final Team Match, a local ballroom dance competition. Students from Pittsburgh Banksville K-5, Pittsburgh Brookline PreK-8, Pittsburgh Colfax K-8, Pittsburgh Concord K-5, Pittsburgh Linden K-5, Pittsburgh Phillips K-5, Pittsburgh Spring Hill K-5, Pittsburgh Sunnyside PreK-8 and Pittsburgh Weil PreK-5 trained in ballroom dance for 10 weeks and performed the Merengue, Foxtrot, Rumba, Tango and Swing in front of an enthusiastic panel of judges, family and friends.
Five of the teams that competed May 10 advanced to the Dancing Classrooms Pittsburgh Colors of the Rainbow Final Team Matches on Saturday, May 17, where they competed against the gold medal winners from the fall 2013 semester.
Dancing Classrooms Pittsburgh is a program of Mercy Community Health, a division of Pittsburgh Mercy Health System (PMHS) and part of CHE Trinity Health, in the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy. PMHS first introduced Dancing Classrooms Pittsburgh to 300 fifth-grade children in six Pittsburgh Public Schools in September 2009.
Since then, more than 3,000 children in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and schools in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh have benefited from the renowned arts-in-education program. Students who participate in the 10-week program learn not only the fundamentals of ballrooms dance, but also team building, cooperation, self-confidence, problem solving, creative thinking, resiliency in the face of challenge, professional courtesy, appreciation for other cultures and other valuable life lessons.
Teachers and principals in participating schools have noted decreases in behavior management problems, increases in parental involvement, and positive impacts on academics, school climate and in the way the students treat one another.
(For more information about Dancing Classrooms Pittsburgh, visit www.dancingclassroomspgh.org. To make a donation in support of Dancing Classrooms Pittsburgh, visit www.pmhs.org.)
