| Emery High dancers, Madison Jensen and Jake Fausett dance for Cleveland Elementary students. |
The Emery High social dance class recently showed the students from Cleveland and Huntington elementaries how to cut a rug. If you’re a youngster you may not know what cutting a rug is, well to the old timers it means to go dancing. And go dancing they did, they did line dancing, they did a bit of a tango, they did some swing dancing, they danced with partners and they danced alone. They whirled around and around and some good memories were made for these young students.
The high school dancers headed into the audience and brought the young dancers to the gym floor for some sashaying around. They taught the students a polka with a lot of hand slapping and foot tapping.
The students were all smiles as they returned to their seats to watch a final number from the high schoolers.
Darrell Gardner is the dance instructor for Emery High. He has been teaching the social dance class for a number of years. He believes that dancing is a lot of fun for these students and helps teach them social skills and how to interact with other students.
Even the shyest of students can really get out there and boogie once the music starts. Gardner also helps with the yearly promenade at the Junior Prom in March.
Gardner has had many a student call and offer their thanks for having been taught to dance. This is a skill they’ve carried onto college and made mixing and meeting new friends just that much easier.
Gardner visits the elementary schools each year to get them started early with a love for dance. Having fun is the main ingredient and if you happen to learn some dance steps along the way, why that’s just icing on the cake.