Karen Garcia sets an example on the dance floor
Karen Garcia first began to think about teaching when she was in college at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. She initially wanted to teach music theory but realized that wasn’t the correct path for her at that time in her life. Instead, she decided to be a general education classroom teacher, so she pursued a teaching degree… along with a dance minor.
From Greeley, she moved to Fort Morgan and began teaching at Baker Elementary School. In her first year of teaching, Garcia taught fifth-grade social studies. Then, for the following four years, she taught third grade.
During that time, she was eager to incorporate her passions of music, dance and the arts into her career, so she started an after-school dance club to teach students different styles of dance. Garcia’s son, Dios, who inherited her love of dance, even took on the role of her coteacher.
Also while at Baker, she started an after-school art club called The Imagination Club and invited her husband, a papier mache expert, to be a guest teacher. What started out as an activity making papier mache masks developed over the years into a full production complete with lighting and background music.
“To make it more academic, I pushed for them to write a story that would go along with their masks, and then we took it to a whole other level (when) we decided to perform (those stories). We brought in the element of music, and at the end of each semester, the kids would perform for the parents,” Garcia said.
At the beginning of the pandemic, however, Garcia was tra nsferred to Columbine Elementary, first teaching fourth grade Spanish for the Dual Language Immersion students and now teaching English Language Development for ELL (English Language Learner) students.
While she had new classes, Garcia missed her afterschool activities and having an outlet for her artistic mind. Because of the safety concerns caused by COVID-19, there were very limited options for afterschool activities at the time, and she was itching to start another program. Little did she know, she would have the opportunity to help bring a new style of dance to Morgan County.
“A year ago, this (dance) studio from Boulder called Block 1750 came during Health Awareness Week, and they gave a demonstration during recess for students. They returned the following week to give another demonstration, and while I was waiting outside with all my kiddos… I was teaching them a very basic step. And I think that’s when Alex (Milewski) and Kollette (Plummer) saw me and asked… if there would be anybody interested in helping them run a breakdancing club here at Columbine,” said Garcia.
Though Garcia knew hiphop was not her strong suit and she didn’t have any personal experience with breakdancing, she decided to take on the challenge. The breakdancing club started in Septembe 2021 with Milewski and Plummer, co-founders of Block 1750, making the trip from Boulder every other week to help teach the students new moves. On the off weeks, Garcia would help the students review what they had been taught the previous week.
“I also started learning on my own because (Milewski and Plummer) have instructional videos from their studio. So, in order for me to help the students, I decided that I needed to learn, too. I started practicing at home.
My son is a dancer, too, so he kind of helped me a little bit. And that’s how this journey started. Breakdancing now is something that I can’t stop thinking about,” she said.
Garcia never anticipated learning to breakdance and definitely was not expecting to compete in her first competition a few short months later in March 2022. Yet, she did it.
On March 26, Fort Morgan’s first-ever breakdancing competition took place at the eLc Community Complex, formerly known as the Fort Morgan Armory.
“I did it to encourage my students more than anything. As teachers, we’re (role) models… we have to model for our students, so I wanted to set the example and (have them) say, ‘you know, if this old lady can do it, and she’s up for it, I don’t see why I can’t.’ Just to motivate maybe those that were shy or reluctant to do it,” Garcia said. “The thing about breakdancing is you expose yourself out there. You’re out there, and you’re vulnerable. It’s intense, so I just wanted to make sure that students felt like we’re here to support… and no matter what, this is for fun, and this is the perfect place to try it out to show your skills.”
The competition was a success and Garcia was excited to see how much her students had learned since they first started the club.
In addition to the club at Columbine, which meets from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. every Thursday, anyone in the community can now learn to breakdance thanks to Milewski and Plummer. They have begun holding free weekly classes at the eLc from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Directly following the class, an open session is held until 6:30 p.m. for students to practice their new skills.
“I can’t thank Kollette (Plummer) and Alex (Milewski) enough for bringing this talent and passion to share with us here in Fort Morgan,” said Garcia.
Garcia hopes that other teachers in the district will consider starting their own clubs and that more students in the community will be inspired to step out of their comfort zone and join the encouraging breakdancing community that is now growing right here in their own town.