In her 35-year tenure teaching dance in the district, Callahan-Russell remembers North’s arts heyday. She taught dance there when it was an arts magnet. French, a 1997 North alumnae, was one of her students. Resources were plentiful. The program was rich.
When Callahan-Russell moved to Southwest in the late 1990s, a dance program didn’t exist there, she said. Now, kids like the Siferllah-Griffin twins pick Southwest because of its dance focus. Ten of the district’s schools offer dance during the daytime curriculum, including five high schools.
“It balances their life,” Callahan-Russell said. She’ll miss watching the kids — her kids — grow.
The kids loved Pierce-Sands, a sweet but direct choreographer who was Callahan-Russell’s first guest artist at North. It was fitting that she round out the last dance.
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