Young Philadelphia dancers to perform at Kimmel Center

The tiny ballet dancers' jaws dropped at the mere glimpse of photographs of the Kimmel Center. But the real nerves for students in the Julia de Burgos School likely won't tighten until they take the stage Saturday evening.

Burgos students, along with those from Fairhill School, Pan American Academy, and Thomas Edison High School, will make their Perelman Theater debut at 6 p.m.

The after-school program, presented by Congreso de Latinos Unidos Inc., works with the Rock School for Dance Education, Raices Culturales, Artistas y Musicos Latino Americanos, and Chosen Dance in an activities partnership to bring free dance classes to the four schools.

The 75 students' hard work will culminate in a private Kimmel performance for family and friends. The students will dance bomba, flamenco, hip hop, and ballet.

"We need to be in a theater. We want the students to see themselves as the striving artists that they've been . . . the same way an aspiring professional artist would hope to perform at the Kimmel Center," said Edward Garcia, vice president of Children and Youth Services at Congreso.

Private-school students have an advantage over their counterparts in public schools, Garcia said, because they are exposed to "different offerings within the arts that broaden their views. . . . The students that attend public schools that don't have performing arts are at a disadvantage. What we're trying to do is give students another motivation and another avenue where they can achieve."

Independent dance schools often charge tuition that some parents cannot afford, and when the children do not live near the schools "it becomes a logistical problem," said Nicholas Torres, Congreso's president.

State and city dollars support the arts program.

Students who miss school are prohibited from attending dance practice. The restriction has helped improve attendance, said Roberto Lopez, a Burgos math teacher and Congreso academic adviser.

"We see those results not just with attendance but with grades," Garcia said.

Congreso plans to continue working with the Kimmel. Dancers in previous years performed in community venues.

"The interest generated here extends beyond their regular programming," Lopez said. "It means something that Congreso has their ear to the ground and is responsive to the needs of the community and the desires of the community to enrich their students' lives with cultural arts programming and to help families communicate better with their teachers, with after-school tutors and mentors."

The Rock School and Raices Culturales both teach after school at Pan American, Fairhill, and Burgos. Artistas y Musicos teaches at Edison.

Lizmarie Fantauzzi, mother of Jeremy Rullan, said her son has realized through this program that to be successful he has to pay attention and look toward the future.

Fantauzzi said she has not seen any rehearsals because she wants to be surprised at the Kimmel performance.

Genesis Fernandez, 10, who will be in fifth grade next fall at Burgos, received a full scholarship to the Rock School this year.

"I make my own moves," Fernandez said of ballet.

At the end of every session, instructor Meghan Braun asks the students to rate their performance that day from one to five. If they decide their number is not five, Braun helps them discuss ways they can improve.

"They get it that they have to be five for the Kimmel," Braun said.