Ballet program teaches dance to youngsters in Mornelle Court.
Daniel Santokie, 10, centre, and the rest of the class work on their jumps during the East Scarborough Boys' and Girls' Club and National Ballet of Canada program that brings the ballet to Scarborough's Mornelle Court neighbourhood.
Staff photo/DAN PEARCE
Dressed in their black, white and pink leotards the little girls - and boy - practice their moves.
They saute and plie (jump and bend), move from first position to second and practice their posture with the "straightest spine contest."
The children are part of a special program being offered in a dance studio in the basement of a building at Mornelle Court by the Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough and Canada's National Ballet School.
The program began Feb. 13 with two classes running every Saturday afternoon. There are 16 kids registered learning the basics of ballet for free. They can thank Douglas Daly for that opportunity.
Daly, the project manager with the Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough, came to Mornelle Court for a job fair and saw the dance space, which was no longer being fully utilized. He wanted to set up a dance program and was able to get everyone at the Boys and Girls Club onboard with the idea. D
aly then contacted Canada's National Ballet School where Laurel Toto and Anuschka Roes (manager of the NBS Teacher Training Program) were receptive to the idea.
The program is beneficial to the students on many levels.
"The kids are getting exposed to the art form and it has that whole physical activity component," Daly said.
They are also learning how to listen better, follow instructions and even a bit of French as they learn all the different ballet terms.
Daniel Santokie, 10, is the lone little boy enrolled in the program. His mom heard about the program and was planning to enrol his younger sister when Daniel expressed interest in joining the program.
"I'm very flexible," he explained as why he wanted to join. He enjoys dancing - sometimes he does hip hop - and it shows. He's a stand out in the class with his feet perfectly pointed when jumping and even winning one of the straightest spine contests (while half the class performs a given move, the other half sit quietly and watch with good posture).
"I'm enjoying it," he said of the class.
The program is taught by three teachers in training from NBS who volunteer their time.
"They were willing to do this to give back to the community," said Toto, head of the associates program at NBS. She added they jumped at the chance to share their love of dance with the local youngsters.
"We love dancing here so we want as many people as possible to be involved in dance," Toto said of the reason behind their outreach work. She credits Daly with making this program come together.
"He's quite a charismatic man who cares very much about the community he works with," she said.
"He really wanted to expose these children to ballet."
Daveenah Ung, 7, had never taken a dance class before signing up for the program. She thinks it's "fun," "nice," and she enjoys "the moves." She's keeping her options open as she also enjoys swimming and soccer - where she won a trophy. Daveenah does like her ballet outfit, a pink leotard.
The program is also beneficial to parents who might not otherwise be able to give their children the opportunity because of logistics or finances.
"It's something easy to access for parents," Daly said. "There's not really anything around here like this."
Both the Boys and Girls Club and the NBS would like to keep the program running. Daly is hoping to have a class performance at the end of this session, maybe at Centennial College's nearby HP campus.
"The hope is the program will prompt the city to do similar programs like this in the summer," he said.