Members of the Champions Club Show off Their Dance Skills
Things were heating up at St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children on Thursday, January 8th, as the students of Flushing High School brought a little dance fever to the Bayside hospital.
From back flips to handstands and acrobatic moves mixed with martial arts techniques, the freestyle dancers from Flushing High School Champions Club showed off their dance skills as one by one, each student began break dancing to the rhythmic beats of their peers clapping. Surrounded by cheers and laughter from an audience filled with St. Mary’s kids and their families, the dancers were egged on to perform some unique stunts and power moves; techniques in which the dancer relies more on their upper body strength to execute steps and is usually on his or her hands during the moves.
The excitement continued as the girls step team made their way up to the stage and amazed St. Mary’s kids with their intricate footwork driven by sounds of their body movement and singing. Stepping is form of percussive dance in which the participant’s entire body is used as an instrument to produce complex rhythms and sounds through a mixture of footsteps, spoken word, and hand claps.
After the awing performances, all students sat down and interacted with children and their families who had more than a handful of questions to ask about their talented skills.
Both the break dancing and stepping groups are part of the after school program, Champions Club. Champions Club offers a variety of after school activities and programs, tutoring for all subjects, an opportunity to make new friends, and a chance to get involved with some of the most popular hobbies, like break dancing and stepping.
Members of the Champions Club decided to use what they learned during the after school program, and give back to the children of St. Mary’s Hospital of Children, one of the region’s largest providers of intensive rehabilitation, education, and specialized care for children with special needs. They were eager to share all the new skills and talents they acquired and wanted to bring a little happiness to others; who better they thought, than the children of St. Mary’s, some of the most extraordinary kids battling complex medical and life-limiting conditions.
