Annual celebration connects young dancers through movement, mentorship, and a little fun
DeeAnn Evans stood in the middle of a Gunn Junior High gym filled with dancing children, which is either a dance teacher’s dream or the sort of thing that would send the rest of us sprinting for the nearest exit.
Evans wasn’t looking for an exit. She was looking at the kids.
Some were pretty good. Some were trying to become pretty good. Some seemed to be negotiating privately with their arms and legs about which direction everybody was supposed to go. Evans loved all of it.
She has been teaching dance for 12 years, which happens to be the same number of years Gunn has held this delightful Dance Party, an annual celebration tied to National Dance Day. But what was happening inside the gym was about more than dancing. It was about where these kids might be going.
“We host it here at Gunn so we can kind of create that community from the academy schools,” Evans said. “We bring the kids here so they can see what we do in dance.”
And maybe see themselves doing it someday. That’s important.
Because an eight-year-old can have trouble imagining herself as a junior high student. At eight, junior high might as well be a different stratosphere.
But put that child in the same gym with older dancers, turn on the music, and suddenly the future doesn’t seem quite so far away.
Just ask Zoe Travis. She is eight and, well, dances like an eight-year-old.
Sometimes confident. Sometimes awkward. Sometimes a little unsure. And occasionally with the expression of somebody who suspects everybody else received instructions she somehow missed.
Her mother, Angela Travis, says Zoe came out of the womb dancing and hasn’t stopped much since. The family recently moved to Arlington from suburban Atlanta, and mom is interested in getting Zoe into the Arlington ISD fine arts pathway connecting Corey and Jones academies, Gunn Junior High and Arlington High School.
“Imagine her being able to learn dance the right way and having to avoid those pricey dance schools,” Travis said. “Looking around at all the faces of these kids dancing, it’s definitely the right place for her.”
Evans understands that pathway better than most. She spent six years teaching dance at Corey before moving to Gunn.
“I actually taught a lot of the kids you saw on the stage together,” she said. “I’m really invested in it.”
You could see why.
Three experienced Gunn dancers stood on the stage leading dozens of younger kids through the routine. They demonstrated one move, then another.
The little ones followed. Mostly.
Eventually, it was showtime. The students were separated by grade levels. Kindergarten and first grade, elementary students. Junior high went next. Each group seemed to get a little taller, a little faster, a little fancier. Christa Altman watched with her two daughters.
“I love this,” she said. “It’s nice for these kids who like to dance to be a part of this community.”
Her daughters dance at home all the time, she said. But this was different. Here they were surrounded by kids who understood why somebody might suddenly feel the need to start dancing. That may be the real beauty of what Evans and the other dance teachers have built.
Dance instruction can be expensive. Studio lessons, costumes and performances can quickly turn a child’s interest into another family bill.
“We provide dance lessons for free, every day, and we put on performances,” she said.
And the students look forward to it. Evans laughed, describing the progression of a student’s day. Math. Science. English. And then: “Oh, yeah, now I get to go to dance.”
National Dance Day has been celebrated since 2010 as a way to promote dance as exercise, artistic expression, and an activity accessible to people of different ages and abilities.
All worthy goals.
But I’m not sure an eight-year-old needs to know any of that. Zoe certainly didn’t seem worried about the history of National Dance Day. There was music playing. There were kids dancing.
Somewhere in that gym were older students who had once been the little ones watching somebody else on stage. Now they’re helping teach the next group. And those children may eventually make their way to Gunn, where Evans will be waiting.
“That also helps me put my face out there for the younger kids,” she said, “to know I will be their teacher one day.”
Maybe Zoe will be one of them. For now, though, she’s eight. Plenty of time for junior high.
First, she has to get these dance steps down.
