Students learn dance at the Hippodrome

BALTIMORE (WMAR) -  

This afternoon, students left Booker T. Washington Middle School in Baltimore to head downtown to the Hippodrome Theater for a private lesson in dance.

Tonight the world-renown Moscow ballet will perform the great Russian Nutcracker at the theater but before the performance premiere ballerina Nataliya Miroshnyk gave a hands on lesson to aspiring dancers.

The Hippodrome Foundation works to expose local students of the arts to the world outside their classroom.

Olive Waxter, the Director of the Hippodrome Foundation says the program, "gives them a chance to investigate possible careers and really enhance their lives through an experience they might otherwise not get."

School instructors see the benefits created by this community relationship.

"We have to establish in school an exposure to the arts. I think years ago most people had an exposure to arts in their home but it's shifted, it's not that way anymore,” said Lori Goodman, a dance instructor. “So sometimes school is the only other way they're going to get exposure to it."

The students know this opportunity can only make them better.

Student Anyah Lowe said "I've been doing it for a long time to so I find it a privilege for me to take advantage of it so I can learn how to do things better."

And they know that hard work is necessary.