As part of Vive Bailando and STEM From Dance’s collaboration, 20 underprivileged girls from Colombia were chosen to participate in a pilot program that taught both lessons in STEM and dance.
The teenage and pre-teen girls were encouraged to explore this intersection, showcasing choreography that blended styles with animated environments. The culmination of their efforts was shown through a Facebook Live event on March 25 with the U.S. Embassy, showing a possible future of an ambitious curriculum that was proven possible by Vive Bailando and STEM From Dance.
Fireworks sparked over their hands. A sun teetered above their heads. Snow fell. Every detail, from the backdrop animations to the choreography, was curated and coded by them.
Their ideas were limitless.
One of the people who made this opportunity possible was Clemencia Vargas (no relation), the founder of Vive Bailando. She spearheaded the pilot program that focused on giving girls in Colombia a chance to learn with the experimental method.
“Dance intrinsically has many benefits, but when this becomes a methodology to educate, it becomes even more powerful,” Vargas said over Zoom.
Vargas started Vive Bailando in 2014 intending to uplift the lives of the younger generation living in Colombia through dance and science. Since its start, Vive Bailando has brought in over 7,000 adolescents and children to learn and grow through dance.
Fast forward to 2019, Vargas met Yamilée Toussaint Beach, the founder and CEO of STEM from Dance, and realized how similar their teaching style and methodology were, combining outside educational mediums with dance to educate youth. Not to mention, both of their programs developed from their experience in college. Vargas, from her time at Babson College studying business management and pursuing dance outside of her studies, and Beach from her time at MIT studying mechanical engineering with 21 previous years dancing.
They brought together the STEM From Dance x Vive Bailando curriculum that allows students to explore choreography and computer science to create new work, even at a time when COVID-19 has completely interrupted education for some in Colombia.
“We’ve had our school system closed for ten months so through dance, we’ve been able to continue to educate and now with this program, STEM from Dance, include other important aspects such as coding and animation,” Vargas said.
Each of the 20 students was either hand-picked based on their previous participation in the Vive Bailando program or selected from the local area where the classes took place. The fast-paced program lasted a few months, a drastic difference from other programs, such as their Academia Vive Bailando or their various social projects, that last up to three years. This meant that Vargas, along with the rest of the team had to fit in as much as they could into the curriculum to show that there is a possible future for the pilot program funded by the U.S. Embassy. Although it was a short period, it allowed the girls to explore the different subjects. Vargas believes that the exposure provided them optimism for a fruitful career.
“I do think that these girls now have a better understanding of what STEM is, that they have the abilities and the capacity to be successful in these types of careers and understand the type of opportunities that exist for the incoming generation,” Vargas said.
Vargas’ ambition to provide educational opportunities through dance derived from her own experience in dance. She was born in Bogotá, Colombia and started ballet classes at five years old. At six, she had to leave the country because of the presence of violence and guerilla groups in Colombia. She moved to Miami, Florida, having to learn English and start her life in a completely different environment.
“Dance became a way to overcome these hardships to be able to express myself to become a leader in a community where I didn’t know anybody, as a second language, and as a way to also express certain hardships that my family was undergoing,” she said.
There was a dance studio close to where she lived in Miami. She remembered seeing hip hop classes with students learning routines to Will Smith and loved it. It was completely different from the ballet classes she was familiar with. Everything about it excited her, but she couldn’t participate.
“I wanted to be a part of those classes but at that time we couldn’t afford it so I took one of the classes as a demonstration and I would walk by every single day and I would just look at them and I would go home and practice the routines,” she said.
One day, a dance teacher from the studio went to see her as she watched the class from the outside and invited her in with a scholarship to take classes. Since then, Vargas has performed with artists like Madonna and at venues like the Macy’s Day Parade. Access to dance education provided her opportunities to overcome her circumstances. Similarly, Vargas wants the Vive Bailando and STEM From Dance program to do the same for Colombian youth.
She did not plan to conduct the program during the pandemic, but it only proved the necessity of it.
“For me, I’m very passionate to be able to provide these types of complementary programs in a time where we have huge dropout rates, adolescents haven’t been able to go to school and we were not prepared as a country to be able to provide virtual education,” she said.
Pulling economic data from 2019, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development released a report that shared how unprepared Colombia was for online learning. The study found that 62% of students in Colombia reported having access to a computer, which is lower than the OECD 89% average. Meanwhile, 23% of students from the bottom quartile of the socio-economic distribution reported having access to a computer. This left many children without any schooling for the extent of the pandemic.
Vargas’ program provided space, materials and facilitation for students to learn despite the economic and educational challenges COVID-19 established in Colombia. She also hopes that the pilot will create legislative change.
She said she wants to “be able to make a difference into public policy so that the government can understand that these types of programs, when implemented correctly, are the types of program[s] that girls and adolescents engage in and that they can learn a lot from, even though it’s not a traditional methodology.”
Even in other programs with Vive Bailando, Vargas noticed how Colombian youth were engaged and remarking bringing participants back to be teaching assistants in other programs.
“It demonstrates that once you pass through the Vive Bailando program, you’re able to become a leader, to become an agent of change,” she said.
Although the program is over, Vargas hopes that the final report from the program will prove to the U.S. Embassy that the combination of dance and STEM is powerful and educational. It not only teaches about the arts and the sciences but also empowers young girls to take on leadership roles and have confidence in themselves.
“I think that the showcase was a very brief result of what these girls learned and what their capabilities were on both a cultural and technical level in terms of STEM, in terms of the animation process, in terms of their abilities to dance, to coordinate, to work in a team,” Vargas said.
As they danced with the animated sun and shifting backgrounds, the girls were not only showing their intelligence and ability, but also their dedication to creating something great together for all to see.