Teaching Children "To Live"

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In 1969, New York Times dance critic Clive Barnes wrote, “Black is beautiful, classic ballet is beautiful, so why are the two so rarely found together?”

That same year, Dance Theatre of Harlem was officially founded by Arthur Mitchell, inspired after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to provide children in Harlem with the kinds of opportunities he had been given. With Mitchell’s leadership over the next four decades, the Dance Theatre of Harlem responded to Barnes’ question by growing into a multi-cultural worldwide legacy. They now celebrate forty years in 2009. A year of festivities have been planned, starting with the Dance Theatre of Harlem 40^th Anniversary Exhibit, opening February 11^th at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Countless performers, audience members and students have been touched by the power of the school kicked off by Mitchell forty years ago.

Nikki Wilson Hefko was eight-years-old and held a “take it or leave it” attitude toward her ballet classes when her mom gave her an ultimatum. “Go today,” she told her daughter, who’d skipped a number of classes that had already been paid for, “or never go back.”

Growing up in Mobile, Alabama, Hefko had started dancing at age five, following her sister’s lead: “I did it because I did everything she did, whether she liked it or not,” she remembers. Hefko enjoyed class, “but I would’ve been just as happy staying home and watching cartoons as I was to go to dance class on a Saturday morning.” A few years later when she started skipping class, her mother handed her the decision whether or not to continue dancing.

“That triggered in my mind… I have to do this all the way,” says Hefko. And off she went.

Years later in New Orleans, where she attended the University of Loyola, a particular dance company commanding the stage in front of her with their presence blew her away.

“They were beautiful. Absolutely incredible,” marvels Hefko, who couldn’t believe there were “so many beautiful people on one stage.” It wasn’t just the aestheticism of their dance-physique bodies that was striking, but “their carriage, way of moving, way of being.”

It was the Arthur Mitchell way, bestowed by the legendary ballet master to the Dance Theatre of Harlem company, which she was watching in awe.

Hefko had taken a master class with Gus Van Heerden, who encouraged her to audition for DTH. Doubtful about trying out, Hefko watched the company, talked to Van Heerden again and went for it. Years later, she is still active with Dance Theatre of Harlem after going through their intensive six week summer program and then joining their company for two years, and sharing that same energy she saw onstage with the young people of New York.

The spirit of reaching out to young people, beginning with Mitchell offering dance classes in a church basement, is an important part of being a dancer with DTH. While in the Ensemble, Hefko started teaching in the Community Program on Saturdays, which introduces children and young people ages 3 -17 to dance. She then instructed Movement classes in city schools, which includes a taste of ballet technique amid general Movement instruction. Hefko taught across the elementary to high school range and even instructed peers her own age when the group traveled to Michigan to teach university students.

“Before I started taking Dance Theatre of Harlem class I thought that ballet was only for girls and was boring,” said Cristofer Reyes, currently a 6^th grader at PS/IS 210, just up the street from DTH and a participant in one of the community outreach classes led by teacher Sarah Zimmerman. “…but when I started taking classes, I found out that it’s not just for girls and that it’s also for boys and…it’s fun!”

The program included a lecture-demonstration performance, DTH site visit and eight weeks of movement classes twice a week in the DTH studios, and ended with two performances followed by a gallery showing of student work – masks, writing pieces, a “word wall” and video showing footage from classes.  “I felt more energetic from all of the dancing that we’ve done,” said Reyes.

This educational and community outreach wing of the DTH, called Dancing Through Barriers®, views itself as a “traveling university” that is committed to educating young people and to providing them with access to and opportunities in classical ballet and the allied arts. A number of schools in the NYC Department of Education currently host DTB® residencies. 

“Outreach is a great experience,” says Hefko, who instructed a parent-child workshop sponsored by the Center for Arts Education to bring the DTH to P.S. 24. Both day and evening programs were offered for parents to learn dance with their children.

“Some kids sort of took the lead with the parent; with others it was the opposite,” says Hefko. “It was really great because a lot of them learned a little bit about each other.”

It’s inspiring for Hefko to see the kids who possess that particular spark when it comes to dance:

“The school programs are a great way to find kids without the pressure of an audition,” she says. At one of the schools, she was struck by the talent of one young boy who came up to her after the class.

 ”When are you coming back?” he asked.

Hefko arranged an audition, and the boy attended the summer school on a full scholarship, and is now enrolled in the Pre-Professional program for the school year. Like most ballet schools, DTH would like to have more boys participate, so bringing in talented young men is always exciting.

Over 500 students from ages 3 to adults enroll in the school per year, taking advantage of the introductory, pre-professional and professional-level classes under the eye of distinguished faculty coming from impressive levels of experience and training. Besides ballet, the school has offered classes in tap, modern, jazz, African, gymnastics, karate, tai-chi, Irish step dancing, music theory and dance history. While tuition is kept as low as possible, it’s still beyond the reach of many families, and DTH gives over half its students more than $340,000 in scholarships or tuition assistance each year. Donors contribute through the “Support a Young Artist” programs, giving money or earmarking $65 toward a pair of pointe shoes.

Children taking part in the Pre-Professional program commit to a serious undertaking: classes are held every day after school, with both a winter and intensive summer session. The benefits of being involved in a program such as this one are sometimes overt, but more often offer subtle ways of impacting a child for the rest of their life.

“It’s really true anytime in organized activity for kids…that you learn how to organize your time at a young age,” says Hefko. Class five days a week, perhaps on a Saturday morning, rehearsals, and school challenge kids to figure out a balance.

The nature of the classical art itself and its reach for technical perfection also impacts the way a child views herself and her life.

“Anyone who has studied dance knows, you can get 1,000 corrections on one movement,” says Hefko. This demand for improvement can bring you to a certain level, breaking down the layers of “how to fix things.”

And this translates for dancers of all ages into how you live your life, says Hefko. The ability to learn how to reflect, something that serves you your whole life, began as a child for her, as well as the ability to not take criticism personally.

“They weren’t telling me I was a bad person; they were trying to help me,” she says.

“Mitchell is effective,” says Hefko. “There is something he wants and he’s able to get it out of you in a way where you have it for the rest of your life.”

This story is filed under: Arts & Culture, Have You Checked the Children?