DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kapolei students practice their steps at a party at Rumours at the Ala Moana Hotel to mark the end of their semester. The middle school's increasingly popular class, unique in the public schools, gives the youngsters a chance to dress up and dance in styles from the 1940s to the present. The students, including Kawehi Del Mar and Sheldon Noa, both 11, also learned some history, communications skills and a bit of science.
Foxtrotting for success
A novel dance class at Kapolei
Middle School holds lessons
in history, culture and etiquette
The destination for the field trip raised some parents' eyebrows. Rumours Nightclub is normally off limits to anyone younger than 21, and these students were just 11 to 13 years old.
But the Kapolei Middle School students who filled the dance floor on a recent morning won over any doubters with their versatility -- hoofing through a line dance, dipping into a waltz, then sashaying into the swing.
"It's so good to see them dancing like this, not just that hip-hop junk," said Robin Gray-Newman, who accompanied her eighth-grade daughter, Meagan, to the party that caps the elective course "Social and Popular Dance."
The only one of its kind in the public schools, the course covers scores of social and folk dances, from the 1940s to the present, with catchy names like the "Alligator" and the "Mashed Potato." But instructor Tracy Taylor demands a lot more of his students than exercise.
The class encompasses culture, music, history, and even science. Students track their heart rates in experiments. They write weekly papers, describing such things as how a song reflects its time period. They have to speak in public.
They even have to get up at lunchtime in the cafeteria and perform in front of their peers -- at a time of life when many kids are loathe to stand out.
But still they keep coming. Introduced last year, the course will have close to 270 students next semester. It competes with electives such as band and art.
"It's really exciting," said 13-year-old Meagan Gray-Newman, her dark eyes sparkling under the disco lights. "You learn dances that no one does any more, and when you do it at parties, you bring them back, so you're kind of a trendsetter."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kapolei Middle School students move to the beat of the Macarena at Rumours as part of their "Social and Popular Dance" course. The innovative curriculum also covers polite interaction with members of the opposite sex and public speaking at an age when many youngsters are loathe to stand out.
Teenagers these days usually learn to dance by watching music videos, where sexually loaded "freaking" and "lap dancing" are the norm. This class gives them an alternative, she said, and helps them build healthy relationships, at home and at school.
Several students who took time off from the dance floor to be interviewed reported that they had danced with their parents as a result of the class. At Thanksgiving, Meagan's grandmother jumped up to join her in the swing, despite a bad knee.
"It was so cute to watch them do it," said Meagan's mother. "It allows the kids to connect not just with their parents but the previous generation."
The class covers social etiquette, when to talk, when to listen, and how to deal with rejection and disagreement. Middle school can be an awkward stage in boy-girl relations, and the course helps adolescents navigate that delicate path.
"With the waltz and the cha cha, they have to enter each other's personal space and interact in a way that leaves everybody feeling positive, and not negative," Taylor said. "That's where they grow the most in this class."
Taylor videotapes the students to highlight appropriate behavior and help them understand the effects of their words and actions.
"This class is not about the teenage world. It's about what happens as you grow out of the teenage world," he said. "I try to impress on them that everything we do affects somebody or something."
Students work together to plan events, such as throwing a dance at school, printing up tickets, selling them, hiring the DJ, coming up with refreshments and games to break the ice. The course is open to regular and special education students, so it also fosters tolerance.
"Once those barriers are broken down, the kids are very receptive," said Laura Burney, a skills trainer for students with autism. "The embarrassment and shyness and awkwardness goes away."
After their mid-December visit to the nightclub, the students displayed their etiquette at a luncheon at the Ala Moana Hotel.
Eighth-grader Carlah Pagay said the class has boosted her confidence and most of all, it's fun.
"At first it was like, oh my God, I don't know how to dance," she said. "And then we started doing it. Mr. Taylor taught us how to act like adults. After this class I'm refreshed, ready for the world."
