Duster Day creates connections at Clear Creek Middle School

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A decades-old tradition continued at Clear Creek Middle School when the sixth graders from the elementary schools gathered for Duster Day.

Duster Day is a way for the rising seventh graders from King-Murphy and Carlson elementary schools and Georgetown Community School to get acclimated to a new building and to meet some of the middle school’s upperclassmen. e students meet teachers, play games, work on teambuilding activities and have fun.

It’s all about building connections.

On May 23, students played cornhole and Jenga, drew with chalk on the sidewalk, played games on the athletic eld and concentrated on turning over a tarp using primarily their feet and using wood pieces to cross a pretend river, trying not to fall in the water, which meant they had to start over.

Keela McDonough and Izzy Fitch have taken part in Duster Day before, but now as eighth graders, their job was to make the new middle schoolers feel welcome.

“It helps them be able to see the school before they start school here, and we can help build relationships with the new students,” McDonough said.

Fitch added that the teamwork activities help students get to know each other.

“Duster Day gives kids the opportunity to get to know their peers across schools,” said Heidi Lupinacci, Carlson’s early childhood coordinator. “It allows the current middle schoolers to model and talk about the skills the (new seventh graders) will need in middle school.”

Carlson sixth graders Luke Royer, Mia Leone, Audrey Amann and McKayla Andrews took a break after a team-building exercise. ey agreed that the school building was larger than Carlson, and they hope they won’t get lost in the building when school starts in August.

“ ey have more freedom than we do,” Andrews said of the middle schoolers.

Royer added: “ e teachers and students are nice, and it will be good to see familiar faces when we start school here.”

Be Studio is an all-inclusive space for people young and old to feel the music and express themselves. For dancers who want to break out of the traditional dance studio format, the international company based in Denver could be a dream come

Striving to bring the magic of global movement to people in Colorado, Caitlin BroznaSmith founded the dance studio that brings a piece of global culture along with self-expression and con dence with each class.

“It was so important to include people from where these cultures are sourced,” said Brozna-Smith. “I found people from Polynesia to teach Polynesian dance… teachers from Iran. We really have this beautiful, electric group of dancers from all over the

Among a multitude of dance styles, students can learn the soft style of Hula ‘Auana, Tahitian dance, Bollywood, Belly Dancing, adult ballet and Ginga Vibe, which draws on styles from the African Diaspora including Funk, Afro-Caribe, Dance Hall, Soca, Lambada and Samba. e studio also o ers Taiji Fit, a halfhour mind and low-impact body workout that combines traditional T’ai Chi with mindfulness and modern Western tness. Inspired by the Bollywood style of dance, BollyX Fitness is a 50-minute cardio workout and GROOV3 Hip Hop Dance Fitness.

Within the Bella Diva studio, both the

Students learn world-wide dance styles at Bella Diva World Dance Studio

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

teaching sta and students are multinational. e dance teachers come from ve di erent countries and teach a range of students from 29 di erent countries.

To bring as much authentic culture into Denver, many teachers have gone abroad to study di erent styles of dance.

“ e people (teachers) who are not native from the cultures that we’re teaching travel and learn from the source because it’s really important that we do cultural appreciation and cultural exchange,” Brozna-Smith said.

Samba teach countries. styles (teachers) the from source appreciation exchange,” Brozna-Smith abso-

Samba, the high energy and fast footwork style is not just a dance form, it is a lifestyle. ose who teach Samba at Bella Diva make sure they are staying true to the culture and teach the students the history of where the dance originated.

“I am very careful when I am teaching my students because I am not Brazilian, it is not my culture, but it is something that I am absolutely fascinated with and love,” said instructor Chelsi Vecchiavelli. “I spend a lot of time outside of class researching, asking experts, listening to podcasts, consulting my mentors who are Brazilian and who are my teachers.”

Born out of the slave trade when it was down in Brazil, Samba was a means of hope and joy and is a dance of resistance and raises up against oppression.

Samba schools have often been located in a favela, which is the poor neighborhoods within Rio De Janeiro. Vecchiavelli said there is