News and Events Press Room Press Releases Young Audiences and MetLife Bring Dance to Schools

MetLife Dance for Life Program Offers Atlanta Students Fun Fitness through Dance Disciplines

 

November 27, 2006 (Atlanta) - MetLife Foundation is partnering for a third year with Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC), a non-profit champion for arts in public schools, to implement the MetLife Dance for Life initiative. This three-year program is designed to introduce young people in kindergarten through grade 12 to the joy of dance and the importance of fitness through participation in multicultural dance residencies. Beyond learning about dance and acquiring skills in a particular dance form, participating students learn discipline and reap the physical benefits of dance, an important factor as childhood obesity rates continue to rise each year.

 

According to the CDC, the prevalence of overweight among children aged 6 to 11 more than doubled to 18 percent in the past 20 years, and the rate among adolescents aged 12 to 19 more than tripled, increasing from five percent to more than 17 percent.

 

 “Thanks to MetLife Foundation’s vision and commitment to arts-in-education, Dance for Life artists and classroom teachers in Atlanta are working in depth with students throughout the country and engaging them in physical activity, teaching them the benefits of exercise, and making fitness fun as they experience the pure joy of dance,” said Richard Bell, Executive Director of National Young Audiences.

 

In the 2006 to 2007 school year, Young Audiences plans to bring the MetLife Dance for Life program to Fulton County’s Woodland Middle School located in East Point, Georgia. The program comprises five consecutive 10-session residencies with Young Audiences dance artists. Over 600 students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades will take steps towards better health through the practice of West African, Modern and other forms of dance. 

 

In its first year of participation in the Dance for Life program, YAWAC reached over 400 students at Charles R. Drew Charter School. During year two, YAWAC expanded its program to reach some 450 students at City of Decatur schools. 

MetLife Foundation was established by MetLife to carry on the company’s longstanding tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. Recognizing the vital role the arts play in building communities and educating young people, MetLife Foundation contributes to arts and cultural organizations across the United States with an emphasis on increasing opportunities for young people, reaching broader audiences through inclusive programming, and making arts more accessible for all people. Believing that education can be greatly enhanced through arts programs, MetLife Foundation places great importance on the intrinsic value of the arts to enhance life, broaden young people's horizons, and encourage curiosity, creativity and learning. Each year over 1.5 million children from across the country participate in arts programs funded by the Foundation. For more information about MetLife Foundation and its programs, visit its web site www.metlife.org.

 

 

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC) is a leading provider of arts-in-education programming in the Southeast. Part of the 33-chapter national Young Audiences organization, YAWAC brings the power of live arts experiences to Georgia students from pre-school to high school. From a small organization of nine artists in 1983, YAWAC has grown into a force in arts education, comprising more than 65 professional artists and ensembles that reach more than one million students each year. We fulfill our mission – to improve the life and education of every child through the arts – by providing a dazzling and culturally diverse array of curriculum-based performances, workshops and residencies in music, dance, theatre, literary and visual arts.

 

The Woodruff Arts Center is the largest arts centers in the Southeast as well as one of the four largest in the nation. The Woodruff is unique in that it combines five visual and performing arts divisions on one campus as one not-for-profit organization. Opening in 1968, the Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the High Museum of Art, Young Audiences and the 14^th Street Playhouse.

 

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Amy Turner                                        Communications Director, Tel: 404-733-5308/Fax: 404-733-5236