Dance teachers Cindy Vaughn and Kate Austin proposed a new class — Dance for Athletes — that could meet the fine art credit class requirement for all the athletes out there.

“We felt the need for fine art opportunities for our student body and [wanted to help] provide them ways to become a well rounded athlete,” Vaughn said.

Some people wonder what the benefits of dancing are and how dance could benefit the athletes as well.

“Dance will benefit the athletes by becoming more flexible, by becoming faster on their feet and with coordination, mental focus and just be stronger overall,” Vaughn said.

Other high schools in the district like Kingwood High School have this class; and, overall, the class has been a success. Thirty students are in the class, and mostly it is just like a normal sports class only in dance mode.

“I grade participation and dressing out, and they will have a skills test over the things that they are learning in class,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn has goals for the class.

“I want all athletes to walk away knowing that they have become more flexible and stronger as an athlete and that they have an appreciation of dance and that they will continue to work on their same stretches,” Vaughn said.

Many students say they are planning to join the class next year, because the class is open to all grades and the only requirement is to be a boy in a sport. However, it is not always easy to handle 30 boys, and that’s why Vaughn has Austin and two Silver Stars as class aids.

“They warm up, stretch, do some endurance exercises with their arms and abs. They learn dance choreography, and right now they are learning some choreography and they have to add two eight counts of their own,” Vaughn said.

It is still undecided if they will perform at Spectrum in the spring. Dance is not only a fine art, it is also considered by many to be a sport. If people were to spend one day as a dancer, they would know the intense workout both men and women go through dancing.

“On Good Morning America there was news reporter, and one of the royalty sons is taking ballet classes and she made fun of the little six-year-old because he was taking a dance class and she laughed at him on national TV,” Vaughn said.

After what happened, the #boysdancetoo was going around and now that is part of Vaughn’s philosophy. It continues to motivate her even more to teach dance to boys.