Colors of the Rainbow Team Match

Colors of the Rainbow May 2010 Team Match Results:

Winners of the May 17 Grand Finale:

Gold: Laurel Wood school (SCESD) with Ms. Jade

Silver: Fremont School (Alisal Union School) with Ms. Kelly

Bronze: Mission Park School (SCESD) with Ms. Claire

Winners of May 11 Monterey Peninsula Schools semi final:

Gold: Forest Grove in Pacific Grove with Ms. Stevie

Silver: Junipero Serra School in Carmel with Ms. Lucretia

Bronze: Robert Down school in Pacific Grove with Ms. Janet

Winners of April 20 Salinas City Elementary School District (SCESD) semi final:

Gold: Laurel Wood School with Ms. Jade

Silver: Mission Park School with Ms. Claire

Bronze: Sherwood School with Ms. Goska

Congratulations to all students participating in these beautiful events and in the Dancing Classrooms program. You are all winners.

Colors of the Rainbow Team Match April 20th 2010

Dancing Classrooms Monterey Bay is pleased to present the Colors of the Rainbow (COR) Team Match, a youth ballroom dance competition. This exciting event will take place on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 6:00 PM at the Salinas Community Center in Sherwood Hall. COR is open to the public and FREE OF CHARGE.

Twelve student teams (144 ladies and gentlemen) of the Salinas City Elementary School District 5th grade classrooms will be competing in this semi-final. The 12 schools are: Boronda Meadows, El Gabilan, Henry F. Kammann, Laurel Wood, Loma Vista, Los Padres, Mission Park, Monterey Park, Natividad, Roosevelt, Sherwood and University Park.

The evening's Master of Ceremony will be Kelly Harper, Dancing Classrooms Program Coordinator and School Liaison. In addition, welcome remarks will be made by Dr. Donna Vaughan, Superintendent, Salinas City Elementary School District, and Supervisor District 2, Lou Calcagno.

A distinguished group of community leaders, as well as icons of dance and theater will join the cast of COR as judges, Diane Chatwin, Doris Smith and Hector Cruz.

2. The Semi-final of the Monterey Peninsula school districts with PGUSD Robert Down and Forest Grove Schools, Carmel Unified with Carmel River School, Monterey Bay Charter School, and Junipero Serra School is on Tuesday, May 11, at the PG Performing Arts Center (Middle School Auditorium) at 6:00pm. The evening's Master of Ceremony will be Kelly Harper, Dancing Classrooms Program Coordinator and School Liaison. In addition, welcome remarks will be made by Cathy McAweeney, PGUSD director of curriculum. Judges will be dance afficionado and philanthropist Sherrie McCullough, Choreographer Gloria Elber, and Stephanie Hulsey.

3. The Grand Final is on Monday, May 17 at Sherwood Hall, 6:30pm. The 3 winners of the 3 semi finals (Alisal Union-semi-final* November 2009, Salinas City Elementary, Peninsula school districts) compete for trophies and medals for their school, a total of 9 schools. This is a wonderful event to bring our communities together and to celebrate our children together.

Victoria Malvagno, Educational Liaison at Dancing Classrooms New York and Teaching Artist in the documentary 'Mad Hot Ballroom' is going to be the Master of Ceremony. World class Ballroom champion Charlotte Jorgensen, adjudicator in 'Mad Hot Ballroom', teacher of Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez, and 'Dancing with the Stars' professional will be the master judge in addition to local dance and theater experts Gloria Elber, Stephanie Hulsey and Hector Cruz. May 2010 marks the 5th year anniversary of the release of the documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom". Welcome remarks will be made by Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue and Jay Marden, principal of Carmel River school.

*The winners of Alisal union district colors of the rainbow seminal in November 2009 were:
1st Place - Frank Paul Elementary
2nd Place-  Fremont Elementary
3rd Place - John E. Steinbeck Elementary

Congratulations! We are looking forward to seeing you dance again and representing Alisal union at the grand final on May 17.

Colors of the Rainbow Team Match May 20th 2009

The Results!

The 2009 Colors of the Rainbow Team Match was the success we all dreamed of! A beautiful location, fantastic dancing, generous volunteers, donors, and a wonderful turnout all came together to create a beautiful event. The children dazzled the audience and the judges with a superb array of dances, including the Foxtrot, Swing, Merengue, Rumba, Waltz, and their personal favorite, the Heel-Toe Polka. After the dancing was complete, and the audience finished their applause, the results were announced:

Gold:
Forest Grove Elementary - Pacific Grove
Laurel Wood Elementary - Salinas
Sherwood Elementary - Salinas
Silver:
Robert H. Down School - Pacific Grove
Carmel River School - Carmel
Monterey Park School - Salinas
Bronze:
Junipero Serra School - Carmel
Monterey Bay Charter School - Pacific Grove

Testimonies

Jay Marden, Principal, Carmel River school

I can share with confidence and in conjunction with teacher and parent feedback, that the students were enthused about participating, grew in respect and relationship building with peers and thoroughly enjoyed the dancing skills taught in the program. The program absolutely delivered on its stated goals. We look forward to a continuing relationship with DC.

Victor Inguanzo - 5th Grade Teacher
Fremont Elementary School, Alisal Union School District

Well...listen to this. I use "Inguanzo Dollars" as my reward system. Every other Friday we have a treasure box and students get to buy, trade, auction etc... Thursday afternoon, one of my students misplaced ALL his money. He was nervous and devastated knowing that he would have no money to spend the next day. I made an announcement to the class:

"Ladies and gentlemen, it has come to my attention that one of our students has lost ALL his money."

And then I asked: "what do you think we should do?"

OMG-everyone came together and began giving, even from the little they had. To me, this was a true result of what you are doing with my class: Building community, and teaching respect for each other. The fact that they were willing to help a much needed member of their community says it all.

Muchas gracias!!!

Marsha Nichols - Principal from Laurel Wood School in Salinas
On a personal note… school was so difficult for me and something like this would have been a wonderful self-esteem builder. What we are actually observing is that children who struggle with “The 3-R’s” find, through Dancing Classrooms, they can be successful and that positive feeling crosses over to the academics.

Frank Jenkins - Parent Robert Down School, P.G.
I attended the Robert Down performance last night, and was completely blown away by the focus and unanimous participation of all the students. Very, very good performance, probably the best school performance I have ever seen based on overall participation and enthusiasm by the students.

Jay Marden - Principal, Carmel River School
I can share with confidence and in conjunction with teacher and parent feedback, that the students were enthused about participating, grew in respect and relationship building with peers and thoroughly enjoyed the dancing skills taught in the program. The program absolutely delivered on its stated goals. We look forward to a continuing relationship with DC.

Location: The Serra Ballroom at the Monterey Conference Center

Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Time: 5:30-7:00pm

A reception to meet the Master of Ceremony, Judges, and Teaching Artists will be held in the Steinbeck Lobby from 7:00-8:30pm. RSVP is requested by May 15, 2009 to Ingrid Tower: 831-649-6726.

The Colors of the Rainbow Team Match features 6 couples from 7 schools in Salinas, Carmel, and Pacific Grove. These students will show us how to dance Merengue, Foxtrot, Rumba, Tango, and Swing. At the same time, they will try to accumulate points from the judges to earn a Bronze, Silver, or Gold medals and trophy for their school. We teach our dancers to win gracefully, loose with dignity, and work together to represent their schools with pride. This event is open to the public and we invite you to join us.