PHOTO COURTESY OF DANCE EVERT

Clara E. Westropp School of the Arts students demonstrate the “Triangular Sit” pose during performance with Tom Evert of Evert Education.

by Jennifer Morrison-Garza

     (Plain Press February 2025) Cleveland Municipal School District’s Clara E. Westropp School of the Arts is partnering with Tom Evert of DANCE EVERT, through an Artist in Residence program funded by the Ohio Arts Council. Clara Westropp, located at 19101 Puritas Avenue, is the proud recipient of a year-long “Teach Arts Ohio” grant for the 2024-2025 academic calendar year. The $14,000 arts-integrated “STEM” grant, entitled “At My B.E.S.T.”, was co-authored by DANCE EVERT Program Manager Jennifer Morrison-Garza, in collaboration with renowned professional dancer and teaching artist Tom Evert.

     “STEM” (or STEAM”) encompasses the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math. Tom Evert’s unique and cutting-edge programming teaches the Ohio core curriculum through the art of music and movement. He has engaged the students and their teachers in a 20-week arts, math and sciences residency, in the following interactive and hands-on programs: Pre-K-K: “I Love Shapes!”; Grades1&2: “Sun, Solar Energy & Water Cycles”; Grade 3: “States of Matter: Solid, Liquid & Gas” & “Dancing with Worms”; and Grade 4: “Geometry in Motion. Each grade level program promotes the “At My B.E.S.T. (Body, Energy Space and Time)” learning readiness and primary dance elements.

     Tom Evert has been working twice weekly with the Clara Westropp students throughout the school year, along with the assistance of Chip Wilson, Westropp’s Physical Education teacher. The students have been engaged in a variety of art forms in Westropp’s spacious gymnasium, including music & movement, the use of nylon body-sized stretchy bands to make geometric shapes, as well as drumming and rhythm, all to be demonstrated in a culminating community performance, to be held this upcoming May.  According to Wilson, “Tom’s class is great, because it covers the math content, through his arts-integrated teaching methods.”  Tom Evert reports, “I have enjoyed the working partnership with Mr. Wilson during our on-going residency collaborations at the school.”

     The Ohio Arts Council (OAC) is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. The Ohio Arts Council was created in 1965 to foster and encourage the development of the arts and to assist with the preservation of Ohio’s cultural heritage. With funds from the Ohio Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, the OAC provides financial assistance through grant writing to artists and art organizations. Such funding supports artists and makes art activities available for a broad segment of the Ohio public, and it provides services that help to enhance the growth of the Arts. For more information on the Ohio Arts Council, please view www.OAC.ohio.gov.

     Dance Evert’s mission, since its inception, has been to integrate the Arts into the schools and community through curriculum, professional and student development, arts advocacy, and performance. Evert’s vision is in the “transformational power and value of dance and art in our lives”. He continues to develop his noted educational STEM (or STEAM) programming, integrating the Arts with math and sciences. His renowned EVERT EDUCATION programs entitled “Geometry in Motion”, “Forces in Motion”, and “Dancing with Worms” continue to be popular residency programs within the area public and private schools, and after-school library programs.

     Coming on Saturday, April 5, 2025, at 7:30pm, DANCE EVERT’s ESPIRAL Dance Company will be presenting “Confluence ~ A Coming Together” at the historic Shore Cultural Centre in Euclid.  ESPIRAL will be collaborating with other performance groups, including students from Cleveland Municipal School District, Reflections Dance Theatre of the Nehemiah Project, and Ballet EXCEL youth ballet. For tickets and event information, please contact tomevertart@gmail.com.

     For more information on DANCE EVERT, ESPIRAL Community Dance Theatre, and Mr. Tom Evert’s unique instructional approach, which integrates the art of dance and the core curriculum, please visit www.danceevert.org and the EVERT Education Facebook page.

Editor’s Note: The author, Jennifer Morrison-Garza, is Program Manager at DANCE EVERT.