Nowakowski is executive director of CityDance, an organization that gets D.C. students on their feet after school — even performing routines at basketball games. This Saturday, CityDance students will perform during halftime at the Washington Wizards game.
You’re the resident dance company at Strathmore ?– how did you decide to go into the public schools?
Part of our founding mission was always to bring the arts into the schools. We started teaching a free after-school dance program, and immediately realized there was a tremendous need for what we were doing. We also quickly saw that we could give these kids more than just an exposure to arts, but also really help them to advance their civic and emotional competency.
How so?
We show them how dance has been used to give voice to parts of the community that have been disenfranchised. When Mayor Vincent Gray holds youth hearings, we have our students go and advocate for change. One of our students talked about the litter in her neighborhood, and the mayor challenged her to change that. She worked with community leaders and got trash cans put in, and headed up a whole cleanup effort.
That’s pretty big.
Yeah, and it ended up being her dance project. She and others came onstage with lots of newspapers and made a mess, then demonstrated through dance how it was messy and unpleasant, and cleaned it up.
Are they excited about performing at the Wizards game?
Yes! But it’s more than the performance. To prepare, we have a bunch of rehearsals. A lot of these students don’t normally get out of their own neighborhoods. They’re able to become peers, and say, “Oh, the student who goes to that school isn’t so different from the kids at my school.” But yes, you better believe that when those kids run out on the courts, the smiles on their faces are worth all the effort.
