OUR HISTORY:

Dancing Thru Life is a nonprofit organization founded in 2007, by Fred Astaire Texas Regional Directors, Stephanie Schlueter and Mark Adler from Houston, Texas. Together, they developed the Dancing Thru Life school program and ballroom dancing curriculum for schools everywhere. The program was first introduced in Brownsville Texas, a city named the poorest city in America in 2013. Dancing Thru Life creates free after-school/at-school freestyle social dance programs for disadvantaged youths. We provide a safe and fun haven for at-risk youth so parents can continue to work and support their families. This youth program has been successfully implemented into Conroe ISD schools over the years, including Sally K. Ride, Glen Loch and Lamar Elementary schools.

EDUCATIONAL BENEFIT:

Our ballroom dance program challenges and influences students in different and exciting ways while simultaneously achieving TEKS along the way. We will provide your principal with TEKS Grades 1-6 document relevant to your elementary and middle school students. Furthermore, to participate in our live dance performances, all students are required to maintain a certain GPA standing much like UIL competitions.

ELEMENTARY OR MIDDLE SCHOOL COMMITMENT:

1. Provide one day after school each week for students to learn the dance curriculum.

2. Provide two staff member volunteers (one may be a parent volunteer) to provide consistent supervision at each class.

3. Provide a large location such as the Gym or Cafeteria large to hold dance classes. The room must be large enough for children to spread out and do line dance routines.

4. Grant access to music and microphone equipment if available.

DANCING THRU LIFE COMMITMENT:

1. Provide a consistent licensed professional ballroom dancing instructor at the weekly classes.

2. Provide a safe, fun, and enriching environment to students by giving them the confidence and health benefits of dance.

3. Provide opportunities for students to showcase their new skills at 1-2 live dance performances during the school year.

PARENT COMMITMENT:

1. Purchase a $25 Dancing Thru Life dance team shirt to help cover weekly dance lessons by a professional dance instructor. The shirt is required for your child to participate in live performances. This is very important for confidence and teamwork.

2. Pick up your child promptly when your after-school dance class has ended via the carline process of your school’s choosing. Our parent and teacher volunteers really appreciate your assistance.

2. Bring your child to all necessary rehearsals for live performances.

2023-2024 ACADEMIC SCHOOL YEAR – 6-MONTH PROGRAM:

Class Period: One school day a week (excluding agreed upon calendar exceptions) from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Dancing Thru Life will include a proposed 2023-2024 schedule for classes. If you need to add more exceptions we will update your school’s calendar.

Program Starts: Mid-September
Program Ends: End of February

Sign Up Deadline: Students must be signed up with parental permission by September 6th to participate.

TENTATIVE LIVE PERFORMANCE DATE:

March 2024 (TBD) – Fred Astaire Regional Texas Grand Championship – Houston CityPlace Marriott in Springwoods


REGISTRATION LINK & QR CODE:

We wish to make the registration process easy for schools. Dancing Thru Life will provide an Onboarding Package to your school complete with the following registration information, a calendar with class dates and times, and a custom school flyer with QR code/link to share with families. We will create a Google Doc registration form with the following: student name, grade level, homeroom teacher, parents full name, parents contact information. Parents are required to ackowledge and agree to a liability and photo release waiver. Please let us know if you want additional information included. At a later date, we will share an opportunity for parents to order a Dancing Thru Life t-shirt. The students dance shirt is required to participate in our live dance performances.

SAMPLE ONBOARDING PACKAGE:

TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS (TEKS) – GRADES 1-5: Click Here (PDF)

TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS (TEKS) – GRADES 6-8: Click Here (PDF)

For more information, please contact us at director@dancingthrulife.org.