News

May 7, 2007

TDSB Schools bring Pierre Dulaine’s “Mad Hot Ballroom” to life at the Palais Royale

On Monday, May 28th, 2007, the Palais Royale Ballroom, will make history once again as it sponsors the Colours of the Rainbow Dance Festival. The festival is the finale of Pierre Dulaine's Toronto pilot project: Dancing Classrooms™. The team at the Palais are strong supporters of this outstanding and proven character development program for children and its representative, Join the Dance (Canada).

On the 28th, over 100 Grade 4, 5 and 6 students from across the GTA, led by Pierre himself, will be "strutting their stuff" with the slick moves of ballroom dancing. These young ladies and gentlemen (as they have been taught to refer to themselves and to each other) have mastered the basics of the most popular ballroom and line dances in just ten short, very focused and fun-filled weeks of Dancing Classrooms™, made famous by the documentary film “Mad Hot Ballroom” and Hollywood’s “Take the Lead” starring Antonio Banderas.

Dancing Classrooms™ launched in Toronto on March 10th with all day dancing workshops, culminating at an unforgettable Gala, hosted by David Singh, President and Founder of the Destiny Group of Companies / Destiny Health & Wellness Foundation. David and daughter Elesha, have embraced the Dancing Classrooms concept completely and single handedly funded the initiative to ensure that ballroom dancing would become a reality for over 285 elementary aged students in the six Toronto District School Board (TDSB) schools that chose to participate in this goundbreaking project. David and Destiny are deeply committed and highly involved globally and nationally, in the war against poverty. David works diligently for equal access to good education and health & wellness for all people around the globe.

Dancing Classrooms™ is hailed as a major success in building civility, respect, teamwork, co-operation and dignity for thousands of children throughout the United States. Its magic has now extended beyond those borders to include Canada.  On the evening of May 28th, the young ladies and gentlemen will be showcasing their newly acquired ballroom dancing and social skills and will not only entertain but will also move the audience with the promise of how ballroom dancing and the ideals it represents can make a positive difference to those young people who represent our future.

Join the Dance (Canada) is a not-for-profit organization which was established to bring innovative character development arts programs to youth and children helping to enhance their self-esteem and confidence as well as helping to learn the value of team work, respect and an appreciation of the differences in others.

Doors at the Palais will open to the public at 4 p.m. with the festival commencing at 5 p.m. and wrapping up at 7:30 p.m. Admission by voluntary donation only, with all proceeds going to Join The Dance (Canada).

Pierre arrives in Toronto on Monday, the 28th of May, 2007 at 10:30 a.m. Media interested in conducting personal interviews with Pierre, and/or coverage of the Colours of the Rainbow Dance Festival, please contact:

Ilsa Abraham, Executive Director
Join the Dance (Canada)
Tel: 905 837 7795
Cell: 416 948 2035
Email: danceforlife1@rogers.com
For more details on Join the Dance please visit our website at www.jointhedance.com.