SLIDESHOW: Minds in Motion

The Richmond Ballet's Minds in Motion program will present its final performance this weekend at the Arthur Ashe Center. As a professional company member with Richmond Ballet and an alum of the Minds in Motion program, I eagerly anticipate attending the show each year -- not just to show support but because there is something unique about this performance that cannot be replicated.

Minds in Motion is a year-long program throughout Central Virginia that teaches fourth-grade students discipline, dedication, and self-awareness by exposing them to a series of choreographic movements that must be memorized and expanded upon in each weekly class. Richmond Ballet and the participating schools view this as a way to teach students the benefits of applying themselves to a task involving both mental and physical challenges.

For anyone who has been directly involved in Minds in Motion or attended one of the performances, it is obvious that the program not only upholds this mission but also fosters a love of dance in these children that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Whether they continue to pursue dance or simply develop an appreciation for the art form, having participated in dance classes, rehearsals, and performances gives them an understanding of dance that cannot be attained any other way.

Not all children enter the Minds in Motion program with a love of dance; some of them have never been exposed to it in any form, some have maybe seen it only on television shows, and some may actually have attended the ballet. For whatever reason, dance may seem an inaccessible art form to many children, but Minds in Motion changes that. The format of the class creates a nurturing environment where the children can learn together without feeling self-conscious among their peers, instead encouraging them individually and teaching them to help one another. All of the children have the common goal of appearing in the final performance with their class; early in the rehearsal process they realize this cannot be done unless each of them succeeds in finding the dancer inside themselves.

The material taught in the class is kid-friendly, utilizing movements children already use in everyday life on the playground and in the backyard -- jumping, stomping, and spinning -- and simply refining them and setting them to music. For the children who demonstrate an exceptional love of the movement, there are after-school scholarship programs, Team XL and Team XXL, that enable them to have even more dance and performance opportunities -- and even to transition into classes at the School of Richmond Ballet.

I have been remarkably fortunate throughout my life, not only to know what my passion is -- dance -- but also to have the opportunity to do it for a living in my hometown. I began taking ballet lessons at the age of 3 and was hooked after the first one. I attended Pre-K through eighth grade at Richmond Montessori School, which is a Minds in Motion school, and the first year the program came to Montessori, I was lucky enough to be able to participate. I was also a part of Team XL that year. However, because my ballet and school schedules had both become so rigorous, I declined the invitation to be a part of Team XXL, which is for children who love performing with Minds in Motion and wish to continue doing so after fourth grade.

Although I was already a part of the ballet and had cultivated a love of dance by the time I started Minds in Motion, I loved the opportunities the program provided me to perform and to share my love of dance with my school friends.

Richmond Ballet's mission is "to awaken and uplift the human spirit, both for audiences and artists." As a dancer in the professional company, I strive to uphold this mission each time I perform, but it is not very often that I have the opportunity to be an audience member at our performances. However, at every Minds in Motion performance, I am moved in exactly the same way that I hope to move audiences with my own dancing. Each child seems to radiate joy as he or she is realizing his or her potential as a dancer, and witnessing those moments when hundreds of children are on the stage emitting genuine happiness is a remarkably moving experience.
Maggie Small began dancing at the School of Richmond Ballet through the Minds in Motion program. She then became a trainee and an apprentice with the Richmond Ballet, where she is now enjoying her second season in the company.