DANCE COMPANY BOOSTS ESTEEM

The May Greene School gym was filled with barefoot boys and girls doing plies Monday afternoon.

"Plie means to ...?" Ruby Streate asked.

"Bend," the children shouted in unison.

"What language is it?"

"French," they said.

When she teaches schoolchildren dance moves, Streate is most interested in showing them something about living in the world.

"I want them to start understanding self-esteem, and respecting themselves, which translates into them respecting each other," she says.

Streate is the artistic director of the Katherine Dunham Museum Children's Workshop. The black company formed by famed choreographer Katherine Dunham began a two-week residency at Southeast Missouri State University Monday.

They will be teaching the Dunham technique, a synthesis of Caribbean, Haitian and African-American influences, to students of all ages during their stay.

Joined by percussionists James Belk, Gerald Williams and Jared Brown, Streate led two classes of students and their teachers. Some of the movements provoked delighted screams from the kindergartners, first-, second- and third-graders in the school gymnasium during one of the classes.

At one point volunteers were welcomed to play the three drums.

"The drums make us feel what we're trying to have happen," Streate told the children, "not just in our bodies but in our souls."

Williams told them the drum was "the first form of long-distance communication."

Dance teaches children about other cultures, Streate says, and through that they can learn to respect each other's differences.

Dance also teaches them focus, concentration and discipline, she says. "When they go back in the classroom they don't make fun of each other.

"Bullying comes from insecurities."

Though children see plenty of dancing on TV videos, they lack exposure to dancing with substance, Streate says.

Many years ago a performance by the Katherine Dunham Dance Company inspired a teen-ager to pursue a career as a dancer. That young man was Alvin Ailey, who became one of the most renowned choreographers in the history of modern dance.

An Alvin Ailey might not emerge from among these children, but a physical therapist might, Streate said. "It's about involving the body with activity. Athletics is not the only thing children can do."

Streate has been a student of Dunham's for 28 years and was a member of Dunham's dance company. The children's workshop she now heads was formed in 1982 with a grant from CBS.

At the time, the workshop was solely giving classes to children in the East St. Louis community. Last July the dancers performed in France.

Williams became a Dunham dancer at 19 and now has a children's dance company of his own.

"This teaches them respect for who they are and the arts," he said. "And they get back something that has been taken away."

As school was letting out, sixth-grader Justin Walton was one of a group of students who gathered around Streate and Southeast dance instructor Dr. Marc Strauss. He wants to take more dance classes.

"I just like moving around," he said. "It's fun."