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Ballroom dance in schools
In Utah, ballroom is a credit-bearing school subject. In New York, it depends on nonprofits. Whether kids get to dance shouldn't hang on a zip code.
Across the United States, ballroom reaches schoolchildren in two very different ways — built into the curriculum in Utah, contracted in by nonprofits almost everywhere else. Understanding the gap is the first step to closing it.
Utah: built into the curriculum
- Credit-bearing ballroom from middle through high school
- Dedicated state funding and teacher endorsements
- A statewide and national competitive circuit
- Rooted in decades of community social dance and BYU’s program
New York & New Jersey: the residency model
- Brought in by nonprofits on grants and contracts
- Supplements arts teachers rather than replacing them
- No academic credit or statewide ballroom mandate
- Reaches tens of thousands of students each year
The Dancing Classrooms model
New York’s closest answer to Utah is Dancing Classrooms, founded in 1994 by ballroom champion Pierre Dulaine and his partner Yvonne Marceau. What began as an after-school program for 5th graders grew into the city’s largest dance-education partner, and reached national fame through the 2005 documentary Mad Hot Ballroom.
It runs as a 10-week, 20-session in-school residency — professional teaching artists visiting twice a week — covering merengue, foxtrot, swing, salsa, rumba, tango, waltz, and line dance, and ending in a showcase for families. It isn’t a graded subject; it’s an arts residency a school contracts in or funds through grants.
A strong mandate, a fragmented reality
New Jersey has one of the country’s strongest legal mandates for arts education — the landmark Abbott v. Burke (1997) ruling made the arts a core subject, and every high-schooler must earn arts credits to graduate. Yet no specific ballroom requirement exists, so in practice it arrives through nonprofits like Dance to Learn and residencies at venues such as NJPAC.
The gap is real: fewer than one in five New York City schools has a certified dance teacher on staff, and arts funding is a patchwork of per-pupil allocations, competitive grants, federal Title funds, and PTA fundraising. Nonprofits exist to fill that gap.
How a school can bring ballroom in
For a school or district that wants ballroom, the pathway runs through partners and grants, not a state mandate: an established residency provider, arts-education grant programs, allowable federal funding, and local fundraising can together fund a program. The hardest part is usually not desire or evidence — it’s navigating the funding maze.
That’s exactly where a foundation can help: connecting schools to providers, supporting residencies, and making the case that dance belongs in every child’s education.
Helping dance reach every classroom
We believe a child’s zip code shouldn’t decide whether they ever get to dance. By funding scholarships and programs and connecting schools with great teaching partners, we want to help close the gap — one classroom at a time.
Common questions
- Do any US schools teach ballroom dance?
- Yes. Utah offers credit-bearing ballroom from middle school through high school, with dedicated state funding and a statewide competitive circuit. Almost everywhere else, ballroom arrives through nonprofit residencies rather than the curriculum.
- What is Dancing Classrooms?
- A 10-week, 20-session in-school residency founded in 1994 by ballroom champion Pierre Dulaine — New York City's largest dance-education partner, made nationally famous by the 2005 documentary Mad Hot Ballroom.
- How can a school bring in a ballroom program?
- Through partners and grants rather than a state mandate: an established residency provider, arts-education grant programs, allowable federal funds, and local fundraising. The hardest part is usually the funding maze — which is where a foundation can help.
Continue learning
The History
From Renaissance courts to the Olympic stage — five centuries of the art form, and the people who shaped it.
Read →The Sport
Heart rates over 170, a century-old scoring system, and the road from Bronze to Championship — the athletic case for dance.
Read →The Art
Musicality, expression, and the distinct character of Standard, Latin, Smooth, and Rhythm.
Read →Health & Wellness
A 76% lower dementia risk, a stronger heart, better balance — what the research says dance does for every age.
Read →Sources
- Drawn from a comparative review of public school dance programs and funding in Utah, New York, and New Jersey, including Dancing Classrooms, state arts councils, and the National Dance Education Organization.