As the ringing of Friday's dismissal bell echoes through the halls of the Fayetteville Street Lab School, many students head home for the weekend.
But for some fourth and fifth graders, it marks the start of dancing the afternoon away.
"Dancing is fun and interesting," said Ricky Boynton, a sixth-grade student at Lowe's Grove Middle School. "I joined the after-school program because I like to go all out."
Since January 2007, the Duke Ballroom Dancing Club has worked with the Fayetteville Street Lab School to host an after-school dancing program for fourth and fifth graders to learn the art of ballroom dancing and other forms of dancing.
Participants said the program not only taught them how to move on the dance floor but also pushed them to perform better academically.
"They teach you how to be obedient and keep out of bad stuff," said veteran dancer Chris Majette, a fifth grader. "It also helps you with your grade because if you want to be in it you have to put your grades up."
Senior Makiko Hiromi, former DBDC president, said students need to get permission slips to participate in the program, which is funded by the Fayetteville Street Lab School's art grants.
Nadiyah Moore, the school's facilitator of the multicultural arts, said the program has also helped students develop their social skills, noting that students are not allowed to choose their partners but must work together with everyone.
"We wanted to incorporate ballroom dancing to improve their social skills among the females and males," she said.
Moore noted that the students have been exposed to many facets of art and ballroom dancing was added to give them another perspective.
"The [children] do enjoy dancing," Hiromi said. "It is actually fun because they are fourth and fifth graders dancing with a girl or a boy.... They still have cooties so they hold their arms out within arm's length."
She added that although it is sometimes challenging to teach the elementary students how to dance, it has been an enjoyable learning experience for her.
"I think for me I have learned how to work with kids," Hiromi said. "It is a lot harder when you're trying to teach these kids something they actually have to master."
Freshman Sabrina Liao, who just started volunteering at the after-school program, said she liked working with the students.
"I thought it was really fun and exciting," she said. "I was pleasantly surprised by how enthusiastic and witty all the kids were about dancing."
Some elementary school students even said they may want to continue pursuing the art of ballroom dancing down the road.
"You can have fun going into the [profession] of learning how to dance, and we already know how to do it," Majette said.
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