No slipping in slippers

The boys and girls sat in small circles on the dance floor, awaiting their turn to try on ballet slippers. Their names and shoe sizes were jotted down on paper.

Some could barely hold in their joy. They would soon trade their socks for ballet slippers, pink for girls and black for boys.

"Can we dance with them next week?" said 6-year-old Nai Alvarez.

She didn't want to take off her pair, with the dainty pink straps and the tiny bows. The first-grader at Metropolitan Ministries School wants to be a ballet teacher when she grows up.

Nai and about 20 more students got their wish - ballet slippers to keep. Their shoes and many more that will be given out in January were bought with donations collected in a shoe drive started by 10-year-old Drew Buckley and her mother, Deana Buckley.

"My mom came home and told me these kids don't have any shoes," the 10-year-old said. They dance in their socks. "They slide," said Drew Buckley. "A lot of them slip and they fall."

She is a fourth-year ballet student at Patel Conservatory who performed in "The Nutcracker" ballet. The performing arts school is located at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for The Performing Arts. Her mother takes modern dance; a sister does hip-hop.

One day a week Deana Buckley volunteers to help a Patel-sponsored free ballet class held at the YMCA on Palm Avenue for Metropolitan Ministries' students. The charter school teaches kindergarten through fifth grade to neighborhood children and those living in the ministries' housing.

Metropolitan Ministries is a Tampa-based charity providing aid to poor and homeless people.

To collect money for the slippers, Deana Buckley and her daughter mailed letters, sent e-mails, handed out fliers and knocked on doors. "I told people I ran into," said Drew Buckley.

"We just went grass-roots," said her mom. "Checks just started coming in."

The initial goal was to donate slippers for kindergartners and first- and second-graders. But with $1,300, they will be able to add third-, fourth- and fifth-graders.

The need down the road will be for new students who come into the program.

Not having slippers is a problem, said Ashley Hilton, the students' dance instructor and the dance administrative supervisor at Patel. When the students wear socks, it's hard to tell if they are correctly pointing their toes or standing in the right position, she said.

"It's so exciting to see how they are progressing," Hilton said. "They're excelling."

Patel has given scholarships to some Metropolitan Ministries students, and they take additional classes at Patel.

"I just think it's an amazing program," said Deana Buckley. Hilton "expects them to listen. They are getting exposed to the arts, and it's a nice break in their day."

One hurdle early on was persuading some boys to like ballet, Hilton said.

She talked up the athletic benefits of ballet, she said, and now the boys brag that they are the highest jumpers on their basketball teams.

Tori Hester, 6, is into swimming and cheerleading, but ballet is a favorite, too. "I like to point my toes because my mom and dad said I'm good at it," she said. "When I'm dancing it feels fun." And she is certain the ballet slippers will help. "I'm definitely getting my feet up to my head," Tori said.

Donated ballet slippers may be dropped off at the Patel Conservatory at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place.

For information, call Deana Buckley at (813) 787-6562 or e-mail her at dmbuckley@verizon.net.