Ballet Classes
Lina trained for and danced ballet in her home country of The Dominican Republic, put out an offer to a couple of young girls to see if they wanted to try learning ballet. This program, starting with 3 girls, ages 6 to 9, soon grew to over 20 young girls. Another room was retrofitted so that ballet classes could be conducted on a regular basis.
It is important to note that in the community of Trujillo, there would never have been any opportunity for these children to be exposed to something like ballet under any other circumstances.
Unfortunately, when our graduate students returned to Palm Beach Atlantic University, the ballet classes stopped, as there are no ballet instructors in the area.
Marea Foundation is working to find a program where we could sponsor ballet instructors to come and spend some time in a Caribbean paradise for a while and continue this unbelievable program.
Rick Reikenis, President of The Marea Foundation, noted, “If you ever wanted to understand the potential of the people of Honduras, just look at these kids, the future of the country, as they are given the opportunity to learn something like chess or ballet. Their enthusiasm and thirst for new experiences are proof positive that, given a chance, they are driven to succeed and thrive in their own hometown. Is there potential here for significant success and growth under the right circumstances? This is proof of concept.”