CLEVELAND — One Ohio organization is making changes to bring dance back into classrooms safely.
Clark School in Cleveland is just one school that welcomed dance instructor Jo Jo Carcioppolo back to the classroom.
“So that was the heel toe polka. So with lesson six, it’s time to shake things up a little differently, give the students a chance to start the class without being connected with their connectors,” explained Carcioppolo.
She started tap dancing at age 13, has been a teaching artist since 2006 and loves helping students learn the magic of dance.
As the founder of Dancing Classrooms Northeast Ohio, she spends a lot of time traveling to different schools in the region, but that wasn’t the case in 2020 when COVID forced the organization to take on a virtual curriculum. Being away from students was a tremendous challenge.
“There was the element of where personally it was very challenging to not be around students as you were suggesting, but I also recognized the reality that we did not have work for our team of teaching artists who weren’t in the classroom, so it was really taxing on our team as a whole,” said Carcioppolo.
And with schools back open but COVID still a concern, Carcioppolo and the team have found a way to keep the music flowing safely.
“We are connecting with our individual plastic handles, these are our french toast sticks. And so each maintains hold of their french toast sticks throughout the class. Whenever we change parters, we can then disconnect our connecter, and then we reloop it through with our new partner, so it’s allowing us to maintain the integral component of our program which is that we never had a permanent partner, that we’re using teamwork with everyone in our class, it allows us to do that without physically connecting with them and able to change partners,” said Carcioppolo.
Joe Rivera is among the students using the connector. He was not a fan of the virtual experience.
“I didn’t really like it,” said Rivera.
As the students move through several dances and switch from partner to partner, they're able to safely learn the valuable skills of the program.
“So now adding COVID to the mix, we certainly have been disconnected in a way that we never have been before. It’s giving students an opportunity to come back together, to build relationships, to learn to interact to build the interpersonal skills that have always been important but more so now than ever,” said Carcioppolo.
Carcioppolo cleans the connectors after each class to create another layer of protection for students.
“It’s amazing to be back in the classroom. To see students, to work with them, to have the interaction, to have it happening in real time. We’re really, really grateful,” she said.