Merengue, Rumba and Foxtrot At After Hours Clubs

Maybe that is the solution to gun crime which seems to be synonomous with after hours clubs but I won't hold my breath. IMO this is just another of those programs that are meant to take the heat off the community....more basketball courts didn't work. But let's not forget "at risk kids" have become a cottage industry and in the process we forget that the vast majority of kids don't commit violent acts and that small group that does gets all the resources.

Grace under pressure
A revolutionary ballroom dance project hopes to teach Toronto students in at-risk areas to choose waltz partner over drugs and crime
Debra Black
Staff Reporter
March 12, 2007

"Gentlemen – twirl the ladies!"

Pierre Dulaine, the ballroom dancer who inspired last year's Hollywood movie Take The Lead, starring Antonio Banderas, tells his new students "Don't be afraid to smile. Show your braces."

Dulaine is in Toronto to help kick off a ballroom dancing pilot project that will begin later this month at six Toronto public schools where many students come from low-income homes.

The course – held twice a week during the regular school day – is designed to teach Grade 5 and 6 children dances such as the merengue, the rumba and the foxtrot.

But it's also designed to teach young children civility and respect for each other. It is this civility and respect that Dulaine believes the children take with them throughout their life and enables them to avoid gangs and violence.

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