With the popularity of the reality show Dance Moms, many young girls who love to dance have a great deal of insecurity about their ability and their body image.
Kimberly Rodriguez, owner of the
Step N Time dance studio in Nashville, MI is a catalyst for changing that
reality. Ms. Kimberly, as her students
call her, focuses as much on having a positive body image and attitude as she
does on ability. She rewards students out
of her own pocket with treats for meeting personal goals and has an “I can’t”
jar with extra tasks to discourage students from using the negative expression.
Each year the studio has a contest
for all of the students to write about the importance of dance in their lives
and Ms. Kimberly offers a scholarship to the winners – valued at nearly
$2000/dancer! She also makes sure that
her prices are low so that anyone who wants to dance has the opportunity.
As a result, dancers make the drive
to Nashville from several surrounding cities including Hastings, Olivet and
Charlotte. One student benefits from
dance as therapy for PTSD and another described having an autistic brother and
dance as the place where she can go to feel special saying,
Even
though my mom says I am beautiful, I don’t always feel that way. I don’t know if I am very good, but when I am
here I feel special. I don’t feel
different. I don’t feel ugly. I don’t have to worry about my brother. It is the one thing that is just for me and
where I feel that I belong.
The stories are as endless as the
shapes and sizes of the dancers. And now
the company has been invited to represent our community at Disney World in
June. Rodriguez saw this as an excellent
opportunity to allow the dancers to experience competition as the result of
hard work, but without the criticism and rivalry associated with the Dance Mom
reality TV world.
Unfortunately, this once in a
lifetime opportunity is financially out of reach for many of the students. The dancers have sold baked goods, cookie
dough and wrapped presents. A GoFundMe page
has now been established to help the company get to Florida. These dancers are practicing both during the
week and on weekends so that they can represent our community with pride.
Step N Time proves that dance can
provide a format for more than just moving your feet and body – it can also
give you the skills to help you move forward in life no matter what the
obstacle.
To
make a donation, please visit and share the GoFundMe page at: https://www.gofundme.com/8tmtwm8k
To learn more about Step N Time
visit the website at:
http://stepntimedancestudio.com/
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