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Once again I feel a Kindness Connection with people around the globe! This was our 5th year participating as a school, but it felt like a first all over again. Not only after 2 years of Covid but our school has gone through so many changes in the past 2 years. In this last year I retired (but came in to promote this event), we have a new Principal and in our K-5 wing 5 out of the 7 teachers are new to our school, so it was all new to them. I was so happy that our new PE teacher was willing to learn and teach the dance and she said that YES she will do it again.

The warm glow throughout the event will keep keeping us warm with KINDNESS! And I look forward to some of our classes connecting with other schools as the Kindness continues to spread!

Special Thanks to:
Leoni Johnson- School Principal
Lindsay Lange – PE Teacher
Kim Goot – School Kindness Ambassador
Daylen Logan – Videographer

What a wonderful event for Cincinnati. It has been two years since we could have an event outside of our classroom community due to COVID restrictions. It was wonderful to be able to meet at the park and enjoy the dance together as a larger community. We had a smaller group this year in terms of numbers but with BIG hearts. We were able to collect so many canned goods for our local freestore. When we delivered it the next day they were overjoyed by the beautiful contribution. I love Dance for Kindness because it reminds people to take a moment and celebrate the kindness that is all around us every moment of the day. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of the worldwide community.

I would like to offer a special thank you to the following individuals:

Julie Swart from the Queen City Dance Academy. She is such an amazing individual and I would not be able to put this dance on without her. She always works diligently helping all of her dancers learn the dance and bring them to our dance.

All of the dancers from The Queen City Dance Academy. We would be lost without them.

Leslie Combs- principal from Blue Ash Elementary for helping to publicize our event.

Mallory Bonbright from Sycamore community schools for helping publicize our event.

Matthew Nichols- Photographer and videographer for our event

Paula Ansatedt- For the Beautiful kindness posters made by the Sycamore High School Community

Emily Kremp, music teacher from Blue Ash Elementary, for sharing the beautiful ribbons for our dance

My amazing family, Steve, Michael, Matthew, and Joseph, for always supporting everything I do!

As a Veteran Group Leader, I can tell you that Dance for Kindness is an amazing event! Each year I have new interests and new friendships formed. It brings people together in Kindness which is refreshing for everyone. DFK has helped me reach goals that I used to think were not possible and has allowed me to open people’s eyes to how simple it can be to share kindness.

Drew Madden, Sean Murray, Rosalie Gower, Emil Gretarsson, Heather Gretarsson, Stephen Faught

My experience as a group leader for the first time was very nerve wracking at first, but once I saw all the support it was much easier to guide myself along. Though in the actual event I had so much fun seeing all of the smiling faces and it felt humbling knowing that I had a major part in making things happen. When organizing this event I really feel my favorite part was actually dancing. I learned to delegate, delegate, delegate. That is not my strongest suit and with this and all of the other things I had going on in my life it was critical for me to delegate tasks so that things could get done. I would definitely be a group leader again and it would be much smoother knowing what I know now so I would love to come back and see what next year brings.

Special thanks to all of the parents that supported your children during this day and taking time to support our studio! To my dancers I love you all very much!

Sophia
Katherine
Johanna
Isabella
Peyton
Ashlee
Nayelle
Anaella
Edda

This is the first time our school participated in the Dance for Kindness event in celebration of World Kindness day. The students, parents, staff and community had an opportunity to take part in this meaningful event to spread the message of kindness which tied into our school theme for the year. The idea that other schools from around the world take part in this massive event shows that we can all unite together to raise awareness, educate and share the love.

Special thanks to our school staff, parents, community, students to making this event possible, especially Pamela Caucino!

Community. My experience as a group leader is best described in one word – community. For the most part, I planned this DFK from afar so I needed to get support from people in the community, which for me included a local school teacher, a local community group, a childhood friend, my sister, nieces and brother-in-law. Seeing everyone come together was kindness in action! I learned that my “prepare and then wing-it” approach that I tend to fall into in life does not work with groups. As I step into more leadership roles, I am mindful of this . From this experience, I am placing more value on all that comes in between preparing and winging it. The best moment for me was when we finished dancing, looked at each other with smiles, cheers, and laughter.

Kelly Raleigh
Cori Slaw
Jordan Slaw
Doug Slaw
Lauren Brancazio
Savannah Brown
Naimah Gooden
Naimah’s Mom
Leah
Kristi
Caren Rallo Nakhooda
Cheri Kohl
Kirsten Kohl
Brittany Kohl

Being a part of the Dance For Kindness initiative was a privilege. It’s beautiful to think about how many people from around the world got together to make a pledge for kindness. A wonderful and smooth process with clear instructions and guidance.

Dance for Kindness is more than an event, but a movement that changes lives right before your eyes. The main dancers for DFK GR were the residents from Baldwin House Senior Living. I teach them weekly exercise and dance classes, and after participating in DFK via video last year, their confidence in their abilities increased enormously. This year we grew from having only a handful of residents participate to more than we could fit in one room! I thoroughly enjoyed working with the community to make this event successful. I didn’t believe I couldn’t fulfill the group leader role, but Orly motivated me and helped me feel more than capable. I felt well equipped with all the group leader training and DFK resources. My favorite part of this year’s flash mob was seeing the number of generations that participated. We had an 8 year old dancing the same routine as a 94 year old! Kindness, dance, and music truly connects people from all walks of life.

Jodie Alexiev
Sher Lewis
Robbi Hess
Wendy Fayne
John and Carol Russell from Southern Fish Fry
Felix Delgado
Xpressions of Praise Christian Performing Arts Academy
Residents from Baldwin House Senior Living