FCI Staff Writer Sacramento 
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January 21, 2022,
Youth is the spring time of your life and you should be happy.
Wouldn’t you agree?
We wish that were always the case.
Recently, Covid-19 and sheltering in has made that somewhat more challenging.
The World Health Organization educates, “One in six people are aged 10-19 years. Adolescence is a unique and formative time. Physical, emotional and social changes, including exposure to poverty, abuse, or violence, can make adolescents vulnerable to mental health problems. Protecting adolescents from adversity, promoting socio-emotional learning and psychological well-being, and ensuring access to mental health care are critical for their health and well-being during adolescence and adulthood.”
There is more.
As reported by the National Center for Children in Poverty, “Adolescence is a critical period for mental, social, and emotional wellbeing and development. During adolescence, the brain undergoes significant developmental changes, establishing neural pathways and behavior patterns that will last into adulthood.
Because their brains are still developing, adolescents are particularly receptive to the positive influences of youth development strategies, social and emotional learning, and behavioral modeling. But adolescents’ developing brains, coupled with hormonal changes, make them more prone to depression and more likely to engage in risky and thrill-seeking behaviors than either younger children or adults. These and other factors underline the importance of meeting the mental, social, and emotional health needs of this age group.”
How can a community help met the emotional and mental well-being of at risk youth.
Have you ever thought about organizing a community dance group for youth?
Sounds like a great idea for a charity.
There may some organizations right in your own neighborhood or city.
Check out this link: https://greatnonprofits.org/categories/view/dance
There are some top rated dance charities out there. Here are a few.
SAN DIEGO
“San Diego Dance Theater has truly carved a creative niche in the San Diego arts scene. Trolley Dances was created in 1999 as a collaboration between SDDT and the Metropolitan Transit System. Each year, Artistic Director Isaacs invites choreographers with diverse aesthetics and styles from around the U.S. and Mexico to create six site-specific works for different venues along an established San Diego trolley route. Past performance spaces have included the escalator of a shopping center, the banks of the San Diego River, the inside of a hotel room, a library, a sports bar and a fountain.
The distinctiveness of these different venues creates creative challenges for the 50 dancers who bring each piece to life.
In 2008, we inaugurated our Kids on Board program that enabled students from underserved neighborhoods the opportunity to watch a special performance of Trolley Dances and to participate in workshops teaching public art/dance.”
And another.
PHILEDELPIA
“The Mission of “Images of the Motherland: Interactive Theatre” (IMIT) is to educate and expand public awareness and appreciation of African and American Traditions and History through authentic presentations of drama, art, music, dance , culture and storytelling by creating “living history” of an entire people to pass from generation to generation Dignity, Self-Esteem, Tolerance and Mutual Respect.
We have been fortunate to reach a total diversified audience of approximately 3000 with an aggregate total of 7 productions and numerous performances presented in 2009-2015.”
Very impressive.
One more.
BAYSIDE, NEW YORK
“Dancing Dreams is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a three fold mission: 1) – to provide dance classes and performance opportunities for children ages 3-21 with medical or physical challenges 2) – to enhance leadership skills and self esteem of teens ages 13-18 3) – to provide community outreach and education in the area of disability awareness and tolerance.”
This is indeed a very special program, especially for those with Special Needs.
Here are a few reviews.
“My son has been receiving far more than dancing lessons for 6 years now. He does not get bored due to the freshness of every season, the warming and genuine attitudes of the hearts of each single individual starting with Ms. Joann and her wonderful team.”
And another.
“Our son Chris is nonverbal, but Dancing Dreams has helped him express himself and his love of music!!! We are so very appreciative to have found such a wonderful organization!!!”
Perhaps one more.
“Dancing Dreams is a dream comes through for my son Clemente who has been developing physically, emotionally, and spiritually for the last three years as part of this amazing experience. The perfect atmosphere.”
We love it.
When an individual, a group or community makes up their mind to do something special, especially to help the young within their neighborhood or city, so many great and amazing things can be accomplished.
If you need inspiration, you can look to film.
Save the Last Dance is a 2001 American teen dance film produced by MTV Productions, directed by Thomas Carter and released by Paramount Pictures on January 12, 2001.
The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenager in Chicago who work together to help Stiles’ character train for a Juilliard School dance audition.
Here is the storyline.
Seventeen-year-old Sara Johnson (Julia Stiles), a promising ballet dancer in suburban Chicago, hopes to be admitted to Juilliard School and implores her mother to attend the audition. She fails the audition and soon learns that her mother was killed in a car accident in her haste to get to it.
Sara is wracked with guilt and gives up ballet. She moves to the South Side to live with her estranged father Roy (Terry Kinney), a jazz musician who plays the trumpet at nightclubs. Sara also transfers to a majority-black high school, where she is one of a handful of white students, but quickly befriends Chenille Reynolds (Kerry Washington), a teenage single mother.
Chenille invites Sara to a dance club called STEPPS, where she has her first experience dancing to hip hop rhythms. At STEPPS, Sara dances with Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), Chenille’s brother and a student with dreams of attending Georgetown University to become a pediatrician. Derek decides to help Sara develop her dancing skills by incorporating more hip hop into her style.
He takes a reluctant Sara to the Joffrey Ballet and, afterwards, she confides in him about her mother and her dreams. Later, they return to the club and amaze others with their dancing.
They amazed us as well.
If you are young, this is the time to be inspired. To feel good.
Every day if possible.
If you are struggling mentally and emotionally, look to taking up dance in a community structure.
You will meet some amazing people who share your interests and the combination of dancing and socializing just may make your blues turn to joy.
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OPENING PHOTO fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com femcompetitor.com grapplingstars.com Productions-pexels.com-photo-credit.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health
https://greatnonprofits.org/org/san-diego-dance-theatre
https://greatnonprofits.org/org/images-of-the-motherland-interactive-theater
https://greatnonprofits.org/org/dancing-dreams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_the_Last_Dance
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