By Alesha Capone
Pupils at a Hoppers Crossing school learnt about the finer points of dance when The Australian Ballet visited last week.
Professional dancers and specialist educators from the ballet company called into Derrimut Heath Primary School, which is part of Baden Powell College, on Friday.
Grade 5 and 6 pupils from the college participated in the STEAMDANCE program, funded by the ballet company’s donors and sponsors, which visits 12 schools across Australia every year.
STEAMDANCE uses dance to help teach children about the STEAM subjects, science, technology, engineering, arts and maths, through workshops.
Dancers from The Australian Ballet also put on a performance of Coppelia for the Baden Powell students.
The ballet company’s head of education Katy McKeown said STEAMDANCE offered children a fun experience of dance and encouraged students of all ages, abilities and language backgrounds to develop their physical and social skills.
Over the past decade, The Australian Ballet’s education program, which focuses on outer metropolitan, rural and regional areas, has given more than 130,000 children across the nation the opportunity to experience dance.
