Retired attorney and professional dance instructor Cassandra Walter recently founded Mississippi’s first nonprofit ballroom academy for underprivileged children, and she’s now seeking teachers and donors to help launch the program.
Ballroom Mississippi is a nonprofit ballroom training academy focused on economically disadvantaged children, providing structured ballroom dance instruction, mentorship, and performance opportunities that foster youth development through the arts.
Walter fell in love with dancing after watching a performance of “The Nutcracker” in Jackson, which set her sights on The Juilliard School of American Ballet, but instead, she decided to stay home and attend Southern Miss before transferring to Ole Miss to pursue a law career. However, dance was never far from her life.
“I didn’t go too long without dancing because, during my law career, John (Walter’s dance partner) and I would meet every day during my lunch break, and he would teach me ballroom dancing,” Walter said on Good Things with Rebecca Turner. “We would do that every day for eight years.”
During the years since, in which Walter has attended competitions, taught dance classes, and participated in local fundraiser “Dancing for the Stars,” she realized just how sparse the ballroom dancing scene in Mississippi was.
“There is just no outlet for children in Mississippi,” Walter said. “John was training me, but he also wanted me to see what actual dance-sport competition was like, and the closest place to actually see it was Baton Rouge. … That Saturday, in the main ballroom, I walked in, and there were hundreds of elementary school kids, and they were dancing so beautifully.”
While Walter can’t claim full credit for the idea of Ballroom Mississippi after her partner helped show her the full scale of ballroom dancing outside the state, Walter is aiming to make the idea fully hers as the nonprofit gets started.
“There are some ballroom studios, but those aren’t the people I’m trying to reach. Those people can get out their checkbook and pay for the lesson,” Walter explained. “I’m talking about kids that would otherwise never have access to a beautiful, grand hotel with crystal chandeliers and this elegant music and the whole environment of ballroom. It will prepare them for everything they need in life.”
Not only does she want to bring kids in Mississippi the opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing as a hobby, but she also wants to give them the option to eventually pursue a professional career as a dancer, or even as a makeup artist if they so choose.
“A part of my vision, in addition to teaching the kids to learn to dance, if they want to choose it as a career path, they will have the opportunity to be trained by high-caliber coaches,” Walter said. “But if they choose not to dance or teach, they may want to learn to do the art of the competition hair and makeup. That is also a training opportunity that Ballroom Mississippi will offer through our partnership with Bakerette Beauty.”
However, due to an early lack of funds, Ballroom Mississippi is still in the beginning stages and doesn’t yet have a consistent set of teachers and students.
“Right now, we don’t have classes where we’ve got kids enrolled. That’s not where we are,” Walter said. “Until we get enough funding, we are going to only host master classes, weekend intensives, and, if everything goes to plan, we’ll have an after-school program for school districts that are interested.”
Aspiring teachers or students can join the academy by visiting Ballroom Mississippi’s website.
