HEART OF DANCE
1921 Kolff Street, Newport, MN 55055 www.heartofdancemn.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Our Mission: To transform lives through the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of partner dance. Our Vision: Through partner dance; youth, seniors, veterans, and other at-risk communities are connected, respected, and given an environment in which to thrive. Our Values: Respect, Elegance, and Teamwork.

Heart of Dance, as a licensee of the global Dancing Classrooms program, presents a 10 week long Social Emotional Learning Program that provides the benefits of partner dance to fifth and eighth grade students and their classroom teachers. It is provided by our Teaching Artists at no cost to the students. The students meet twice weekly for 50-minute lessons, which are held at each partner school during the school day to ensure full student participation and facilitate curriculum integration. Students and teachers learn six social dances, as well as the historical and cultural origins of each dance, with an emphasis on Respect, Elegance, and Teamwork. At the end of each semester, all the students perform at an in-school culminating event. The schools also have the option to take part in the Colors of the Rainbow inter-school team match, where the students perform before a panel of experienced ballroom dance judges. Each student receives a medal and each school receives a trophy.

When you get into dance frame and look directly into your partner's eyes, you understand them at a different level. Overcoming divisions of race, culture, and opportunity, in Dancing Classrooms everybody dances with everybody and students learn to work together with people who are different from themselves. Fifth and eighth graders continue to tackle this challenge while discovering more about themselves and connecting with others. More than dance steps, we're seeing confidence, gender and culture respect, teamwork, conflict resolution, and more. Both educators and parents reported increased confidence, peer respect, and lessening of behavior issues as a result of students' participation in the program. 83% of educators saw positive changes in the way their students treated each other, 70% of parents noticed positive changes in how their child felt about themself, and 70% of teachers noticed a positive change in their classroom environment. We launched our new senior wellness program this year, our first two groups of seniors came together to experience the healing combination of music and movement to strengthen balance and cognitive focus. We also launched our new senior wellness program this year, our first two groups of seniors came together to experience the healing combination of music and movement to strengthen balance and cognitive focus.

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