SOCORRO, N.M. - This season’s fall National Dance Institute (NDI) of New Mexico educational
dance program, featuring fourth-graders in the Socorro district, pays homage to the history of
American jazz music. The performance, “Got Jazz,” on Thursday, Nov. 17, at New Mexico
Tech’s Macey Center will offer matinee school-time performances at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., with
seats reserved for adults who want to avoid not getting a seat at the typically sold-out 7 p.m.
performance. Admission is $6 for adults and free for youth, but they must have tickets. Tickets
can be obtained online at nmt.edu/pas or at the door.

Now in its 25th year in Socorro, the NDI presents a hands-on dance residency where
elementary school students practice daily with a professional dancer and musician in an original
show, usually about cultural or scientific history. This year’s NDI performance is an original
production conceived of and created by the NDI New Mexico staff, from the script to the
choreography to the costumes and sets. One first-grade class – the Tiny Tots – will also join the
performance. The fourth-graders are from San Antonio, Midway, Cottonwood, and Parkview
Elementary; Sarracino Middle School and CVCS students are on the Celebration Team.

The NDI-Socorro residency is a collaboration between the NDI statewide program, Socorro
Consolidated Schools, and the New Mexico Tech Performing Arts Series (NMTPAS). NMTPAS
does all fundraising and day-to-day coordination. Early residencies started in Socorro,
Magdalena, and Alamo; the first two remain, with Magdalena at the end of April.

“This is the best hands-on arts experience I’ve ever seen, and I’m so excited that Socorro has
been a part of the NDI experience for 25 years, one of the longest residencies in the state,” said
PAS Director Ronna Kalish.“I encourage the community to come out and support the kids –
you’ll be amazed. But get to Macey early, it’s going to be packed! And to see the enthusiasm
and energy these elementary-aged students bring to the performance is really something.”

As the fourth-graders practice with their professional mentors, four or five students from each
school are selected to be on the Super Wonderful Advanced Team, or SWAT. SWAT students
stay after school to learn and practice additional dances. They return the following years, usually
through eighth grade.

“They work really hard,” Kalish said, adding that one SWAT member chosen in elementary
school, Michaela Wilkinson, stayed with the program through her senior year at Socorro High
School. “This took a real commitment on her part, because there are so many competing
options in activities for high school students.” Michaela was also one of the last Socorro high school students to participate in NDI, as the statewide program changed its policy about including high school students.

Kalish said this year’s show has taken students on a cultural-musical journey of one of the most
significant forms of American music, jazz – from the big band jazz greats such as Louis
“Satchmo” Armstrong and Billie Holiday, to New York’s Cotton Club Scene, Jumpin’ Jive and
Swing. “After dancing to some of the great hits in jazz for three weeks, students will remember
some of this history. Later in their life, these thoughts might nudge their thinking in new
directions and insights,” she said.

NDI is now in 34 communities statewide and has taught more than 9,000 students in 96 school
programs, with Socorro being one of the oldest in-school programs in New Mexico. Each year,
instructors travel around New Mexico conducting three-week residencies. This year’s director,
Lauren O’Brien, has been working together with an assistant dance teacher, two musicians, and
local coordinator Dana Chavez, rehearsing every day with local elementary students, learning
their routines in preparation for the public performances. In addition to all Socorro fourth-
graders, older students – NDI alumni – form the SWAT and Celebration teams.

This year’s sponsors are: Positive Outcomes, A-1 Quality Redi Mix, Walmart, Dr. Stephen and
Beth Wells, Bob and Kathy Markwell, New Mexico Arts, and the National Endowment for the
Arts.

The Socorro residency is part of NDI New Mexico’s statewide Outreach Program, which places
a certified instructor and professional pianist in school classes throughout the state as part of
their curriculum. It also trains classroom teachers to get their students up and moving and
incorporate NDI techniques into their core curricula.

All NDI New Mexico programs are character-building and use dance to teach important life
lessons, what NDI calls the unforgettable “Core Four” -- Do Your Best, Work Hard, Never Give
Up, Be Healthy,” which equals success.

NDI is the biggest outreach event that New Mexico Tech does in the school districts and
community. The program teaches students to strive for excellence, build self-esteem, work as a
team and develop almost all NM State Education Benchmarks in dance, theater, music, and
physical education.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the residency, Kalish said, is that students become the
professional dancers when they come to Macey Center, learn all about theater, dance with a
professional band, have lights, costumes, sound, learn entrances, exits, blocking, and
performing to sold-out audiences of their families, friends, and neighbors.

More information is online at nmt.edu/pas or call 575-835-5688.