Essential skills, and a lot of fun

Congratulations to the fifth grade, who just finished ten weeks of ballroom dancing instruction with Rodney López.

The ballroom dancing curriculum is more than just dance steps. In López’s words, it aims to "teach essential life skills through the practice of social dance."

Families were invited to a culminating celebration on Thursday, where students demonstrated merengue, fox trot, rhumba, polka, tango and swing styles… and showed off their newfound confidence and their comfort in their own skins.

Fifth grade’s ten-week ballroom dancing workshop is just one part of a social and emotional curriculum that runs throughout every grade at Gordon. Through academic collaboration, games, arts projects, team challenges and, in Middle School, overnight adventures, Gordon students learn resilience and leadership, and form personal connections that help fuel classroom work.

Many more photos from the culminating celebration

A look at the beginning of the ballroom dancing journey, from February