Ballet: A Secret Weapon Keeping Brazilian Kids in School
An innovative after-school program boosts students' performance in the classroom – and on stage.
Deep within Rio de Janeiro's sprawling Complexo do Alemão favelas, tutus and ballet slippers are helping young people stay in school – and thrive. Behind their success is Ellen Serra, an attorney who in 2010 hired a ballet teacher out of her own pocket to give instruction to 10 kids from the community. That idea has since grown to become ViDançar, a social project with over 300 students who pirouette and plié before getting help with their homework and English lessons. Serra didn't grow up in Complexo do Alemão, and before starting the program had no prior contact with dance, much...
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