GET YOUR LEAP OF JOY SHOPPING BAG TODAY!

WE HAVE JUST RECEIVED OUR NEW LEAP OF JOY REUSABLE MULTIPURPOSE BAGS!

Save the environment and help our thriving nonprofit with your purchase of this bag!  It’s gusseted 13″ x 15″ great for the grocery store or dance wear!  Pink with orange gussets and handle and shining purple logo and lettering.

Exciting News!!!

Leap of Joy is officially a Austin Creative Alliance sponsored project!!

This means so many wonderful things:

-All donations made to LOJ are now tax-deductible!

-All LOJ events, fundraisers, and job ads will be listed at Now Playing Austin!

-LOJ can now receive grants and sponsors from local businesses! 

-More funding means more teachers and classes!

Thank you ACA!!

Summer Dance Camp Success

    This past June LOJ invaded Hart Elementary and taught a 4 week class to 1st-5th grade students!  Kids learned basic dance combos, Jazz technique , Hip Hop , cart wheels , hand and shoulder stands and practiced performing by showing off choreography in front of peers !

    We are so proud of how far our Hart kids have come and we can’t wait for this upcoming  fall semester!  Be sure to check out the kids in action! Visit our Facebook page and check out the promo videos!

Update and Announcements

Dressed for success waiting for the bus!

It’s been a busy year for Leap of Joy.  We’ve worked with well over 100 kids this last school year.  This past spring we had three performances  from three of the six schools we serve, perform in the City Wide Showcase.  Sarah, one of our wonderful teachers designed the logo that went on to our new t-shirts that all of the children received and the ones that performed, got to keep their clothing.  We continue to serve fresh fruits and seasonal vegetables at the end of class and the kids were introduced to some foods they’d never eaten before like cucumbers and blackberries.

Ms. Danielle!!

This 2012 summer session we are currently teaching at a kid’s summer camp 4 days at one of our participating schools.  Plans for the future include printing our t-shirts in adult sizes and offering Leap of Joy dance bags with our other dance wear.  We’re hoping to add another school or two this next fall and will continue serving many of the schools we serve now with additional classes being added as well as including dance with theater arts.  We are excited to announce our volunteer Danielle Houtkooper is moving forward to becoming our first theater arts instructor for this upcoming fall semester! We’ll continue working with the kids academically as we have in the past.

Also, as you can see our website has had a major face lift! So, take some time and look at all the changes including our recent promo video! You can find the link in our “About” section.

Hart Elementary Yoga

Hart Elementary 2nd graders practice Hatha Yoga on Tuesdays. On this particular Tuesday in Feb, we decided to enjoy the sunshine and choose our favorite poses for the camera. Some chose solo poses and others chose to work in a group. What a great class! Often our yoga classes involve an art component that is linked to meditation or guided visualization. Sometimes it’s simply a reflection of what the students see in themselves and what they’ve learned from their practice. What a joy it is to be at Hart with these curious, bright, energetic young students. – Annelize Machado, Yoga & Creative Movement Teacher

KDH Dance Company performs for Leap of Joy

These photos are from our field trip to see KDH on December 1st, 2011 at the SVT. What a wonderful experience! What did we need? 2 Buses, 3 school, around 100 students waiting in anticipation, a fantastic Leap of Joy staff , volunteers and of course a generous choreographer & dance company.

As you see from the photos above, the students waited eagerly in the lobby pre-show. Once bathroom visits and snack time was checked off, they entered the auditorium with anticipation. And to add to the excitement, we received 3-d glasses that were to come in use at some point during the show.

Post-show was filled with questions about the set, dance technique, lights, costumes and much more. And while  waiting on the bus, Ms. Maia reviewed dance material in the lobby with the her freshly-inspired Harris dancers. Hart students played and then started on their homework at one end of the parking lot. Barrington students came together to play “Little Sally Walker” on the opposite end and work off their energy sitting patiently in the auditorium for a full 60 minutes.

All in all a great success! Thanks to all who helped out.
- The team at Leap of Joy

Dance & Magic

Below, a group of fierce 2nd graders waiting anxiously for their big performance at the city wide Showcase, May 2011.

  (Barrington 2nd graders at AISD All-City Showcase, 2011)

While we understand that costumes for young girls don’t have to come in the form of tutus and glitter, there’s something transformative about the sparkle & glitter, wouldn’t you say? But don’t let the tutus fool you. These girls are fierce. Sure, they can show you a pirouette or two…and then what? The amazing part is watching the skirts dance through the air. Making shapes and patterns all over the stage as the dancers fly, leap, kick legs up and cartwheel all over the place! Choreography is a mix of what the teachers have set on them as well as what the dancers have created during the year.

With their sparkle and shine they bring joy to the stage. More importantly, I am happy knowing that they feel the freedom in doing so. Some dancers are shy at first, some are fearless throughout. In the end, they carry each other through the process and come out knowing that they’ve shared a beautiful experience together. And I don’t just mean the performance. We go through a lot over the year. We discuss friendships, comfort, guidance, change and we address all kinds of emotions that come up through movement. So this is really a celebration of spending a whole year together and showing up for each other.

Dance classes also include reminders about inner beauty. It sounds so last decade, I know. Unfortunately we know that self-criticism can start young for women. And by 2nd grade they’ve absorbed so much from pop culture, media and their personal lives. Its 2011 and this burden of ‘beauty/perfection’ is still around.  Dance can be scary in that way, putting your body and your truth out there. So until that chapter can be closed permanently, we use each class as an opportunity to stop feeding that voice.  I realize that we can’t change every advertisement out there or beauty magazine, but we let our young people know that they are amazing just the way they are.

Our classes are an opportunity to remind our students as well as ourselves that the beauty of strength, individuality and power is present within each one of us. And the ability to communicate that through dance is truly magical!

Annelize Machado
Program Director, Leap of Joy