Seven students from Membertou First Nation are dancing their way to school credits and a performance in front of thousands of people in Toronto.
They are enrolled in Outside Looking In — a nationwide program that encourages Indigenous youth to go to school, keep their grades up and graduate.
Created by Tracee Smith, a professional dancer from Missanabie Cree First Nation in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., students who participate learn hip hop and modern urban dance from some of Canada’s top choreographers like Jessica LaRusic, who teaches in Membertou, and Queenie Vicente from School of Groove in Toronto.
Those students who successfully make it through the program get to travel to Toronto for two weeks where they live together in a camp environment, participate in full-day rehearsals and perform for 6,000 people.
“It’s boring all day (at school) and then you get to come here (for Outside Looking In practice) and you have so much fun,” said Dante Googoo, a Grade 9 Sydney Academy student.
Membertou First Nation signed on to bring the program to their community last year and Googoo was one of the students who participated and went to Toronto.
“Last year I signed on for the Toronto trip,” he said. “This year, I signed on because I made so many friends last year and I want to go back and see them.”
Seeing the friends from the 13 other Indigenous communities across the country participating in Outside Looking In seems to be the main reason many of the participants are returning to the program. There’re also the memories they made while away for two weeks.
“Running on stage, I accidentally twisted her ankle,” said Arianna Christmas, pointing to her sister Ariah Gould.
“She tripped me basically. I was on the ground.”
Everyone in the group laughed as the sisters and Googoo told the story of Gould falling just before going on stage during their performance.
Outside Looking In maybe a fun experience but the educational objective is strongly enforced.
To make it through to the trip to Toronto in May, students need to have a 65 per cent academic average, 80 per cent school attendance and 80 per cent rehearsal attendance. Plus they need to consistently exhibit a positive attitude and hard work ethic, helping build life skills essential to success after graduation, which is another objective of the program.
Outside Looking In was launched 12 years ago after Smith was inspired by an experience she had teaching in Lac La Croix First Nation in northwestern Ontario.
“I taught them for one week and then we had a little show,” said Smith, 41, who has been dancing since she was a child and worked professionally in cities like New York and Los Angeles.
“It wasn’t a big deal for me because I couldn’t teach them that much in a week. The parents got very emotional. Some were crying. They kept asking them to do it over and over. I thought it was so beautiful to see the impact it had on them.”
As the program grew in popularity, so did the success of its objectives to encourage Indigenous students to stay in school.
Smith said they have a 96 per cent high school graduation rate with students who take part in the program. Nationally, Indigenous high school students graduate at a rate of 36 per cent.
“Some of the communities we work in, it’s hard to get their kids to go to school let alone keep their marks up,” Smith said. “I wanted to give kids a reason to want to go back to school. Hook them with music and dance.”
The success of the program is also evident in the increased numbers of students wanting to take it. Vicente has been teaching the program at Garden Hill First Nation since it started at the remote, fly in community in northern Manitoba. At first, 60 junior and high school students participated. Now she has 280 — 140 juniors and 140 seniors in two classes.
Membertou First Nation is the only community in Atlantic Canada offering the Outside Looking In program. The cost — $50,000 per school year — is funded by Mi’kmaq Kina’matnewey (department of education) and the Membertou band and council. This fee covers all costs for students.
While the students laugh as they remember the hard work, the angry chaperones when they wouldn’t go to sleep at curfew and the trips during performance, Smith said she also sees the pride they feel when they finish the performance.
“(The trip to Toronto) opens their eyes to what’s outside their community. That’s life changing,” she said.
“The confidence they have, the pride in what they’ve done … They aren’t the same kids when they go home to their communities and that’s awesome.”
