Monday, May 18, 2015
More than 2,000 students from 40 Milwaukee Public Schools took center stage Saturday, May 16 in the ninth annual Danceworks Mad Hot Ballroom and Tap Competition at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Mad Hot Ballroom and Tap teaches life skills and increases physical activity and school engagement by integrating tap and ballroom dance into the regular school curriculum. The program aims to improve:
- Students’ social and emotional skills
- Students’ respect for self and others
- Students’ attitudes toward physical activity
Modeled after the successful New York City schools program featured in the hit documentary Mad Hot Ballroom, Danceworks MHBT promotes students’ social and emotional development, while increasing their respect for self and others as well as their physical activity, through dance programming during the school day. Students receive 24 hours of instruction from professional teaching artists over 12 weeks.
Congratulations to the MPS schools who took home awards this weekend! First place teams in the tap competition were: Parkside School for the Arts (Swing), Milwaukee French Immersion (Latin) and Story K-8 School (Funky).
Hartford University School received first place honors in the ballroom competition for salsa. Siefert took first place in both tango and rumba.
See all of the results on Danceworks’ website.
Partnerships with organizations like Danceworks are key to expanding fine arts offerings in MPS.
Central to the district’s plan to increase academic achievement is the redesign of the MPS experience to include expansion of fine arts. This plan would provide every student in the district with a high-quality arts education, both in and out of the classroom, improve school climate and culture, increase student and parent engagement, and improve academic achievement.
Photo: Milwaukee French Immersion students dance the tango.