Dance Encourages Foster Girls

Maryvale in Rosemead is a group home for 80 foster girls, ages 6-18, who have been abused and neglected. Create Now has provided them with creative arts programs for over 8 years and they once again opened their doors to us in hopes of bringing encouragement through the art of dance.

Micol Arias is a trained dancer who performs with the “Let’s Dance Company” at East Los Angeles Community College. She coached six girls ages 9-14 in dancing at Maryvale for an hour every week. As the month-long workshop progressed, the girls were eager to learn new dance combinations. They were thrilled as they mastered the steps. These dance workshops helped the girls to focus and encouraged them to strive for more.

“Working with the girls at Maryvale, was a wonderful experience,” Micol said. “When I signed up to volunteer for Create Now, little did I know that my experience would be so rewarding. Coaching the girls allowed me to use dance as a form of therapy. What was really inspiring about teaching the girls was their excitement to learn new dance combinations.

“I recall a moment when one of the girls ran up to me before class and was excited to show me that she had been practicing combinations I taught the previous week. This was a heartwarming moment because it showed that the girls really cared about learning more. Considering I am a social work major at college, volunteering at Maryvale through Create Now reassured me that social work is a career I want to pursue.”

Anne Lobsinger, the Volunteer Coordinator at Maryvale said, “I really appreciated the way in which Micol worked on breaking the ice and helping the shy girl feel included. This is so critical for our girls to experience positive adult role models!”

One of the residential counselors observed, “Consuela would return to group so excited about the time she spent with Micol and share the dance steps with her peers. It was fun watching her use her free time to take a boom box outside and practice the dance moves. These lessons were truly a way for her to express her moods and creativity. Thank you Micol!"

Here’s what some of the girls had to say (their names are anonymous):

"I really liked it when I could do the same thing as Micol. She was nice and made me feel like I was good at dancing. Thanks Micol!"

“I think Micol is a really good teacher and she knows what she’s doing. It’s really fun! I like it because I just love to dance and it’s good to have a teacher who is supportive of it.”

Create Now is grateful to the Los Angeles County Arts Commission for their ongoing support, which continues to make programs like this possible.