FAIR school dance student Amina Foster is optimistic about the future of dance instruction in Minneapolis.
“Since this is my last year here, I won’t really see what happens afterwards,” she said. “But I’m really excited about the people who come after me.”
This comes after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a $350,000 program to fund dance classes in all elementary schools and rec centers in the city.
The program to revitalize an arts curriculum that was ravaged during the pandemic is a partnership between the city, the Minneapolis school district, and the Park and Recreation Board.
“Dance is a really underfunded program, so I’m really happy about this investment, and I hope it continues to be allocated correctly,” Foster said during a press conference where she and her classmates performed a dance routine.
“We are bringing dance back,” said Frey. “We want to make sure that the next extraordinary talents have the opportunity to learn about dance. We are bringing dance directly to them.”
The funds from the city, schools and park boards will fund classes in all elementary schools and recreation centers in the city.
The program also supports residencies for dance companies in grades six through 12.
“You’ve got a bunch of local governments that are all working together,” said Frey. “Regardless of the chaos that is happening around the world right now, in Minneapolis you have a whole bunch of champions that are making sure that people are taken care of and that people can express themselves in the way of dance and arts.”
WCCO's Al Schoch was never the star of high school dances, but his sister did take ballerina lessons in elementary school.