• Thanks to the efforts of Buder Elementary School music teacher Bill Wamser, the "Bulldogs in the Ballroom" dance lessons are now underway at the school.  Wamser wrote an essay entitled "Bulldogs in the Ballroom" to demonstrate how Buder students would benefit from a ballroom dancing program being offered by St. Louis Dancing Classrooms.
     
    Wamser learned about the opportunity to bring St. Louis Dancing Classrooms to Buder during a workshop he attended this past summer.  The workshop was sponsored by the E Desmond Lee Fine Arts Collaborative.  During the workshop, the teachers in attendance were told that the Des Lee Foundation would pay for one school to participate in a dancing program by St. Louis Dancing Classrooms.  The catch - to qualify for the opportunity a teacher from the school had to submit an essay describing how the program would benefit the school's students.
     
    Thanks to Wamser's efforts, Buder students are now enjoying learning several ballroom dancing styles.  The students are learning the Merengue, Fox Trot, Rhumba, Tango, Swing, and Waltz.  Pierre Dulaine gave the initial lesson.  Dulaine was portrayed by Antonio Banderas in the movie "Take The Lead" which dramatizes the beginnings of the "Dancing Classrooms" program.  Dancing Classrooms is also the subject of the documentary film "Mad Hot Ballroom."
     
    Instructors from STL Dancing classrooms come to Buder twice a week for ten weeks to give instruction.  The twentieth session will be an opportunity for the students to show the community what they have learned.  They will demonstrate their new moves at an all-school assembly on December 14th at 2:00 pm.
     
    St. Louis Dancing Classrooms (SLDC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit social development program aimed at empowering youth, teaching respectful interaction, and promoting teamwork in St. Louis metropolitan area schools through ballroom dance.