Word: citystep
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Mayor Leonard J. Russell declared yesterday. March 4, as Citystep Day in Cambridge in honor of more than 100 local children who danced their hearts out last night and Sunday night in Sanders Theatre...
According to Sabrina T. Peck '84, who created Citystep and also directs it, she and the 20 other undergraduates who work with about 100 fifth and sixth graders attempt weekly to portray the vitality of urban life, as seen through the eyes of a child. She says, "We don't just dance with the kids, we provide role models, we work on creating a curriculum that helps them explore events and themes in their lives...
Backed this year by close to $3000 in loans and grants from various University offices, the Undergraduate Council, and a grant from Stride-Rite, Citystep hopes at least to recover the approximate $6000 cost of the performance itself. "The future of the program will depend on the shows," said Executive Producer Catherine T. Davidson '85. "If we get a good response, hopefully it will go on. Sabrina's proven that absolutely anyone can dance. She took these fifth and sixth graders who had no experience and taught them...
Last sping, Citystep's first production at Sanders Theatre played to the largest single Harvard audience ever, followed by a sell-out command performance at the ART. The company's expansion from a dance company giving demonstration sessions at area schools to a full-time teaching program was encouraged in particular by its reception from several hundred Cambridge schoolchildren who were invited to the performances. "There was such positive reinforcement from the teachers and administration that I thought I'd stay on and choreograph on a serious level with undergraduates, says Peck...
Stanford T. Makishi '87, who has been with the company since its inception last year, welcomed Citystep's entrance into the classroom. "I wanted to do some kind of social service last year, but I couldn't fit it in with the dancing," he says. "This is a great way to mix both. It's incredibly rewarding...