Carnival Swagger and Commitment | Lincoln Elementary Dance Team

Passion for music and dancing runs deep and blossoms early in Southeast Louisiana, and the team members of Young Audiences of Louisiana’s afterschool dance program at Lincoln Elementary School for the Arts are no exceptions. Participating girls in grades first through eighth refer to themselves as the “LDT” when they high-step in Mardi Gras parades, but their Carnival swagger is founded in an intensive, multi-year program of cultural, artistic, academic, and personal exploration. LDT admission is open to all students; but high-level commitment to the art and discipline of dance, coupled with stringent academic expectations, is only for those passionate about personal and artistic achievement.

YALA began our partnership with Lincoln’s afterschool dance program in 2008. Since then, our talented teaching artist instructors Jazz Johnson and Gabbe Slack have developed a comprehensive curriculum including study of dance origins, historical context, and cultural reflections, along with high-level rudiments and choreography instruction. More broadly, the curriculum addresses the overarching principles of how dance expresses culture and history and ways that movement communicates mood, message, and ideas.

The program encourages students to take ownership in making decisions about the genres of dance to study, develop teamwork skills through practice together, build trust in peers, and cultivate confidence through public performance. Funded through a 21st Century Community Learning Centers federal grant, YALA’s afterschool program at Lincoln undergoes rigorous annual evaluation. When surveyed about her daughter's participation, this LDT Mom captured the intent of the program best: "She is much more excited to go to school and enjoys dancing as well as learning.”