CityStep is a unique organization run entirely by undergraduates that introduces public school youth to the performing arts as an outlet for creative self-expression, a tool for building self-esteem, and a means to mutual understanding. CityStep was founded in 1983 in Cambridge, MA, by then-Harvard undergraduate Sabrina Peck, '84. Today the program is one of the largest student organizations on Ha
rvard's campus. Through a year-long, in- and after-school dance-theater curriculum based on the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework, CityStep offers students a valuable creative supplement to their traditional education. Each week, teams of undergraduates travel to local schools to teach and mentor middle school children, reaching them during their critical pre-teen years when tools for strengthening self-expression and self-esteem are crucial. Entire classrooms participate—children are not individually pre-selected based on talent or inclination. Additional teams work with students who have completed at least a year of CityStep and choose to continue in after-school programs. The middle school and the college students work together to challenge themselves and each other in a mutually enriching collaborative relationship. Each year's partnership culminates in a completely original and thematically relevant dance-theater performance that all participants help to create, bringing together parents and teachers, peers and professors, citizens and local leaders in an outpouring of community support.
