The Kern Dance Alliance is accepting applications from Latina high school girls for a free after-school dance program.

The Paso a Paso program is a confidence-building program that works with high school girls to create a support system while becoming empowered through life-skills workshops.

“Paso a Paso empowers girls by teaching them that life is a dance and it is necessary to learn the right steps to achieve success,” Kern Dances says on its website.

Paso a Paso is taught over six weeks and features guest speakers and dancing.

Girls will partake in life skills building workshops for the first hour of the program, followed by Latino dance instruction taught by a professional Latin dancer for the second hour.  The dance classes will inspire confidence and cultural understanding as the participants learn to express themselves through Bachata, according to the website.

Each session will include a snack and bonding session, where program directors check in with students, review the prior week’s experience, talk about problems they are experiencing and identify steps to overcome challenging scenarios at school or in their personal life. Each session will also feature a guest speaker who will cover new life-skills. And of course there will be dancing in each session, where girls learn a dance from an experienced dancer, where attitude, confidence, teamwork, and dedication will be emphasized. Lastly, there will be a small group mentoring portion, where students join the program director and guest speaker to review lessons taught and create a plan for implementing new tools developed. 

The deadline to submit applications is March 23. Applications can be filled out online at KernDance.org/PASO.

Those in the program will meet on Fridays from from 4:30-6:30 p.m. from April 3 to May 8. The classes will take place at Garces Memorial High School.