Moving Ahead Through Dance
Connecticut Community Foundation grant: $11,250 over two years
Avery Taylor arrived for the summer session of Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts expecting to learn about dance. He quickly realized that he was in for much more – a chance to prove himself during grueling 10-hour days of classes and rehearsals.
“There’s a discipline that comes from dance,” the then high school senior said. “When you dance, it makes you think of the privileges you have and you want to hold on to them more.”
For students in Mosley’s Life Dance Company, the summer session was just the beginning.
Back home during the school year, students from Waterbury learned the business of dance as well as workplace and academic skills. Instructors stayed with students until graduation, calling to check up on their schoolwork and guiding them through the college admissions process. Before the year’s end, students shared what they had learned with elementary school children.
“When we dance, we see how to carry ourselves in the world,” said Gibson Charles, another student. “It’s about building yourself.”
