Moving in the Spirit
P.O. Box 17628750 Glenwood Avenue, SEAtlantaGA30316404-627-4304
404-624-5299

Program: Stepping Stones, Apprentice Corporation Outreach Year Started: 1986 Focus: Dance Youth Served: 275 Ages: 4-19 Budget: $114,198 Moving in the Spirit (MITS) teaches workplace values through dance. Two programs, Stepping Stones and Apprentice Corporation Outreach, focus on teaching commitment, discipline and accountability through modern dance. Dance classes draw upon the messages of Martin Luther King, Jr. for inspiration. The young Stepping Stones dancers meet once a week during the school year at 10 centers throughout Atlanta. Dance classes operate around an incentive system that rewards participants with points for their efforts. In Apprentice Corporation Outreach, students sign job contracts pledging to be on time and to fulfill other responsibilities. Corps members audition for the program, which meets at least four times a week year-round. Public performances, which include dialogue with audience members, are taken on the road in a 3-week "Tour Explosion" to churches, theaters, prisons and community centers. Both programs pay youth for their participation. Youth earn "MITS money" based on the number of points earned in the incentive system, and the money goes into make-believe checkbooks. The young dancers are able to use their money in the Moving in the Spirit Christmas store, which is supplied with donations from individuals and local businesses. "Every day the dedicated dancers are taking on more of the organization's responsibilities and asking for additions to the curriculum," reports Development Coordinator Lydia Pettigrew.