Linda: Experiences that allow people to see where they fit, where they belong, are one way to build security and confidence. And the more we can bring that into both school and out of school settings, the more we build the young person’s capacity to take steps forward with assurance about who they are.

Itzel: Okay, let’s go back.

Antonio: In my own childhood, my cultural heritage was largely absent from my school experience. And I don’t want the current generation of students to go through that. I want them to be able to explore the richness of their identity and the identity of their neighbors. [Speaking Spanish] is a program that focuses on regional dances from Mexico, and it looks at the diverse heritage of Mexican cultures. This program allows our students to discover their own roots, but also to build more community across cultural groups.

Itzel: Any other questions, anything else you guys are confused on? Is it here? It just has to travel down to your legs and your arms, okay. Let’s get our skirts on. We’re going to do a little with a skirt.
I try to show them how each region has its different ways of dancing.
So make sure you hold it all the way from the end. That way you can really throw your skirt all the way back. And make it flare.

We’ll practice the movement of the skirt, and then we’ll go and put that together with the footwork.

Linda: As young people enter adolescence, it is a time of identity development. Supporting that identity development in productive ways that also bring them a sense of community, an opportunity to be physically active, which also develops the brain, is really important.

Brenda: I get to feel like more of where my culture’s from and where my parents are from, like how pretty and unique our culture is. Since I’m sometimes really insecure about myself, this doesn’t make me feel like that. Like, I feel like a whole new different person when I dance and perform with this group.

Antonio: We know that some of the most fragile moments in a student’s life are those transition moments between middle school and high school. And so if our teaching artists and our programs can help create a lifeline that accompanies students through those transitions, then we know we’re doing good work, because we’re creating sustained, caring adult relationships.

Itzel: Girls let’s spread out [speaking Spanish].

I like to show them that we’re all connected and we’re all family and we should treat each other as such. I always tell them, like, if you guys are struggling in a class, I’m always here. I like to think of us as a family.

Here, back, then you’re going to spin around.

Linda: These young women are practicing for performance, which means they’re demonstrating that they can become more and more competent, that produces a sense of growth mindset and confidence, because they see that they can do something that they couldn’t do before, and they’re able to demonstrate who they are to others, which is a really important part of solidifying your identity.

Itzel: That’s great, let’s do it one more time, let’s do it one more time.

六合彩彩票

Tacoma Public Schools