Steppin' Stone for Athletes

The class counts as an elective, and students are allowed to take it as often as they please, so long as they also fulfill their core requirements. Some students make the class a fixture of their schedules each semester, Rosso said. It's not uncommon, students said, to take multiple Dance for the Athlete classes during one term.

Grading revolves largely around attendance and improvement and, while students unanimously regard the class as fairly easy, everyone gets nervous for the final exam. The end-of-semester performance draws more people than the school's homecoming football game, at a cost of $7 per ticket.

Rosso hosted the last show on Jan. 12. The following day at school, administrators said, dozens of students went into the guidance office and begged counselors to change their schedules for the following semester. They all wanted into Dance for the Athlete.

Some students who don't get into the class decide to go anyway. Ricky Chilipko, the school's best soccer player, took the class this winter for no credit. Instead of going home at the end of his school day, Chilipko walked to the mirrored dance studio on the school's second floor and spent another 80 minutes in class.

"I've lost track of how many times I've taken it," Chilipko said. "It's definitely in the teens. You might think that sounds crazy, but all the big, popular guys at this school get in this class and love it. It's the coolest class here. It's not what you think of as dancing."

Chilipko usually shows up for class in sweat pants and a baggy Glen Burnie T-shirt. When he gets there, he dances to the type of music that he'd usually blast from his car speakers: Usher, Aerosmith and blink-182. For the most recent performance, Chilipko and four friends choreographed a dance to a song by boy-band *NSYNC.

Athletes who arrive suspicious at the beginning of the semester end up dancing without even knowing it. Rosso borrows moves from Glen Burnie sports practices -- side-to-side shuffles and cross-stepping agility drills -- and puts them to music. "Before you know it," senior basketball player Erika Jones said, "you're moving to the beat."

Progress happens like that, Rosso said -- in baby steps. The instructor turns good players into good dancers, she said, by forcing them to rely on the tenets of athletics: balance, coordination, agility, muscle memory and, yes, even endurance. In a typical Dance for the Athlete class, the group runs through a full song routine up to six times. By the time the bell rings, students said, half the class has collapsed on the floor.

"It gets you in amazing shape," said junior Kelly Leary, a pitcher on the softball team. "Out of all the sports I've played, this might be the best workout. After class, we can hardly move."

When they can move again, though, they do so more capably. Dash, the quarterback, said the class improved his balance, leaving him better able to recover from near tackles. Jones, the basketball player, improved her post-up moves, because a swing-step combination reminded her of a drop step.

TaRonce Stowes, a senior point guard, credits Dance for the Athlete with making him one of the best boys' basketball defenders in Anne Arundel. "I'm way better now at changing direction," Stowes said. "You know how people talk about breaking your ankles? Well, that doesn't happen to me anymore."

"That class really helped him," Glen Burnie basketball coach Mike Rudd said. "I tell all of my players, 'Get in that class.' It's something different than just regular [physical education]. The kids who do it come away with something pretty unique. Plus, they get a ton of confidence."

Since the show on Jan. 12, Stowes has heard about little other than swing dancing, he said. He walked into basketball practice a few days after the performance expecting some good-natured teasing from his teammates. Instead, they asked for an encore -- and group lessons.

Chilipko, the soccer player, has been overwhelmed with similar requests. He's repeated his *NSYNC routine "hundreds of times," he said. When people ask how he perfected it, he points them to Rosso's already overflowing class.

"I walk through the hall and people I don't even know are talking to me about that dance routine," Chilipko said. "I'm probably more known at this school for being a dancer than a soccer player. That's kind of scary to think about. But actually, I'm cool with it."