On a sunny October afternoon at The Vincent House, 12 kids of varying ages and heights stood with their hands on their hips, tap shoes at the ready. When the music started, they were off, tapping across the floor — mostly in sync.
At the head of the class, dance instructor Lindsay Razo tapped along with them, calling out each move ahead of time.
“Cramp Roll!”
“Paradiddle!”
When the class ended, several students sat down on the floor, taking a short break. After tap is jazz, and many of the kids are enrolled in both sessions.
Jada Talbert started dancing when she was 2. The fourth grader at Mason Community Center takes tap and jazz at The Dance Exchange, a low-cost dance program through The Vincent House. About 85 kids are enrolled in classes, ranging from preschoolers through high school students.
“I feel like dancing relaxes me,” said Talbert, who likes listening to Forrest Frank and songs from Disney and Pixar movies.
Another student, Jaxsyn Weems, takes ballet, hip-hop, jazz and tap. Ballet, though, is her favorite. When asked why, she gets up to demonstrate.
“Like to do this,” she said as she twirled around the room.
“You know I love to do this,” Weems said to Razo.
“Oh, when we practice our chaîné turns,” Razo said, serving as ballet interpreter.
For a lot of the kids, this is their first time taking lessons, said MyAhna Hall, an Akron native who manages the program. Lessons cost $15 per season, which runs from October to April. Hall said there is financial support available to families who need it. Dance shoes are provided, as are costumes for the end-of-season recital.
The program, based in Akron’s Middlebury neighborhood, launched in 2024.
Removing the financial barriers to dance
Hall began dancing at age 2 and danced all the way through high school, primarily at Martell School of Dance, where she would go on to teach as an adult.
“I was dance through and through,” Hall said.
“I think it gave me a really strong sense of self in my body,” she said. “Yes, in ballet sometimes I don’t like the way I look, but then when I dance, I feel it, and I feel good. I see myself and I know that it’s beautiful.”
There were times, though, when Hall was unable to dance at Martell’s because her family couldn’t afford to pay for classes. Hall said dance classes typically cost at least $45 a month for one class. And that doesn’t include shoes or clothing.
The Dance Exchange removes that financial barrier.
“I really just wanted to be able to offer dance to kids who couldn’t afford it otherwise, which was really a lot of my story growing up,” Hall said.
Citizens Akron Church opened The Vincent House in 2022 to fill a much-needed childcare gap in the neighborhood. The nonprofit offers a range of programming — from after-school care to sports teams — to students of all ages.
The Vincent House serves students from Mason and East Community Learning Centers. The Dance Exchange, meanwhile, is open to all kids, whether they live and attend school in the Middlebury neighborhood or not.
Lessons for dance — and life
For students in The Dance Exchange, the lessons go beyond the steps they learn in class. They also learn how to be accountable — to themselves and others.
“I think that the commitment to something, the seeing it through, especially October to May, is just a really big deal for our kids,” Hall said.
It’s a sentiment shared by Razo.
“I think these kids a lot of times feel like they can’t do hard things and they want to quit,” she said. “But I’m like, ‘No, these are things you can do. But you have to practice. We have to try.’”
Outside the dance studio sat Dan Kamwesa, executive director of The Vincent House. He worked on his laptop as he waited for his 9-year-old daughter, Talitha, to finish jazz class. He has three daughters, and all of them take lessons.
“Talitha is very expressive, and so this is natural for her,” he said of his oldest. “But my middle daughter Naomi, for her to do jazz and hip-hop — she’s shy, pretty reserved, pretty quiet. But you see all the personality coming out [in dance].”
At the end-of-year recital, students in each of the 16 classes perform a dance routine. Parents and family members are encouraged to dress up and bring their dancers flowers. Afterward, everyone enjoys a catered meal. For the past two years, the event has taken place at House Three Thirty.
Next April’s recital will be the third for both the program and Kamwesa. He always has the same reaction to seeing his girls perform.
“Every time I cry. Especially the first one. And it wasn’t just for my girls,” he said. “A lot of those parents in that room wouldn’t have the opportunity to see their daughters celebrated in that way.”
He continued, “When our people get together, we have a good time. We celebrate our kids, we eat our food, and we support one another.”
