Dance program puts self-esteem in motion
Music pulsates throughout the gymnasium as dozens of young people hop, glide, clap and pirouette in unison.
It's just a typical late afternoon at the Sol Aureus College Preparatory School as students learn teamwork, discipline and self-esteem through the school's after-school African-based dance program.
Teachers at the private school on Meadowview Road work to instill these qualities in their students, most of whom come from low-income families. They want students to believe that they can achieve anything – whether it is a college degree or a career in the performing arts.
"The discipline and hard work confirms to the kids that they can do extraordinary things," said Alton Nelson, the school's founder and principal.
Dance may seem an unlikely venue to learn such attributes as self-esteem, but teacher Yemanya Napue said it gives everyone a chance to achieve. All the students need to do is diligently follow her training for the African-based dances and they will learn them, she said.
"Everybody else says that you can't do it because you're too heavy or too slow," Napue said. "Not in my group. What you do is what I train you to do."
Student Maya Littlejohn, 13, said the intense dancing practice gives her incentive to persevere.
"This is where we learn 'ganas' – the desire to want to do something," Littlejohn said.
Sol Aureus students travel throughout the region and Northern California performing dances. Principal Nelson said the traveling enhances their self-esteem while also allowing them to be school ambassadors.
School administrators have asked Book of Dreams readers to help pay for African dance costumes for students, who now dance in street clothes.
"It's about giving them a multicultural perspective," Nelson said.