At the end of every semester in Oberlin, the Cat in the Cream holds an event that radically departs from the usual concert, Conservatory recital, or trivia night. The metamorphosis is subtle yet striking; excited parents, siblings, and grandparents from the Oberlin community fill the seats to face a stage populated by young girls and boys, who, along with an Oberlin instructor, perform a choreographed routine they have been practicing all semester. This is Kids in Motion: an Oberlin ExCo that sends College students into the classrooms of Langston Middle School and Oberlin Elementary School to offer after-school dance programming. Also known as Girls in Motion, the program started over a decade ago to create a space for middle school girls to celebrate movement in a non-judgemental, body-positive environment. After being halted during COVID-19, the program has pirouetted from a dance-heavy approach towards a more inclusive, participation-focused programming in the elementary schools to include anybody that wants to participate.

College second-year Talia Richer, one of the ExCo’s instructors who joined Kids in Motion last semester, hopes to continue to grow and reestablish the program in Langston Middle School. 

“After COVID, the goal has been to try and get as many kids involved as we can,” Richer said. 

She was drawn toward the program after personal experience working with kids in theater and dance programs. The program remains a welcome break from the hyper-competitive culture that she feels Oberlin can perpetuate at times and straddles the divide between campus and the community. 

The ExCo meets once a week on campus on Mondays, in addition to at least an hour per week at Langston Middle School or Oberlin Elementary School, and teaches new members how to work with kids, facilitate games, and cultivate group participation. Mentors in the ExCo can showcase a dance game to the group to add to the variety of activities that they will deploy inside the classrooms. The ExCo also operates as a space to discuss what it means to engage with the Oberlin community as a college student, and topics of financial and racial privilege are emphasized in their discussions. College second-year Audrey Halstead, who also instructs the ExCo, is perfectly situated to address this divide as a native of Oberlin and a graduate of Girls in Motion. As both a former participant in the program and now an instructor, Halstead continues to promote the program’s core values. 

“We aim to help the children foster a love for movement that will enable them to express themselves,” Halstead said. “We play movement games with the children, practice a dance. We will later perform for their families, and teach them the importance of self-love.” 

As Halstead notes, the program post-COVID-19 has bounced back. 

“[The program]….is as strong as it has ever been,” Halstead said. “The program’s strength was seen last spring when we had a fantastic turnout for the children’s performance!” 

Behind this final display of energy and kinetic celebration lies countless hours of attentive instruction, community building, and pedagogical tinkering. Mentors in the program noted that while having fun remains the primary goal and result of the program, the kids can be hesitant to express themselves at first. However, over time, both Halstead and Richer noted the personal growth they see in their students as well as themselves. 

“While working in elementary school, I saw the children bloom in an interest in dance and come out of their comfort zones,” Halstead said. “In Kids in Motion, we believe any form of self-expression through movement is dancing, which is precisely what the kids showed us over time.”

While the deadline to register for the Girls in Motion ExCo is September 10, students can still be involved by attending events. The program will open again in the spring semester as well, to anyone interested, regardless of prior dance or education experience. And of course, the end-of-semester recital is open to anyone wanting to see corporeal expression in its purest, loudest, and most exuberant form.