CityStep is a dancing program, using undergraduate students to teach dance to students in city schools with under-funded arts programs.

History

The program was founded in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

in 1983 by recent

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

graduate Sabrina Peck. Approximately 75 undergraduates work together to serve over 100 Cambridge

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

children annually. Some participant Cambridge public schools are the

Amigos School The Amigos School or La Escuela Amigos School, is a dual-language immersion bilingual Kindergarten to eighth (k-8) school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the Unit ...

, the Morse School and the Kennedy-Longfellow School. In the program's first year, Peck traveled to four schools twice a week to teach 85 fifth and sixth grade students. By the third year, Peck transitioned the program to student leaders, with over 80 undergraduates auditioning for the programs 32 teaching spots. In 2004, CityStep expanded to the

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, with 40 undergraduates from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

working with local public and

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

school students.All About City Step
. Accessed April 28, 2018. The program introduces city students to the arts with in-school dance programs designed to help them compose and produce an annual dance show.CBS Philly. April 28, 2018,
CityStep Program Reaches City School Kids Through Dance
. Accessed April 28, 2018.

External links

CityStep website

References

{{reflist Dance education in the United States Dance in Massachusetts Dance in New Jersey Dance in Pennsylvania