Lifting Spirits, Teaching Excellence, and Celebrating the Beat with Colleen Macomber

Colleen Macomber, the program director of Celebrate the Beat (Celebrando el Ritmo), has been with this program, which is based out of the United States in Colorado, for the last nine years. This is her sixth year teaching down here in Mexico, but this is actually the program’s 9th year of teaching children in Sayulita and the Riveria Nayarit area. Colleen tells El Sayulero all about this program and the upcoming annual performance that you won’t want to miss on Wednesday, April 5th.

How did Celebrando el Ritmo get its start?

Celebrate The Beat (CTB) was founded in 2000 by Tracy Straus with the belief that the arts have a unique power to engage children and motivate them toward excellence. Using professional artists, live music and a distinctive combination of dance classes, performances, and educational materials, CTB fosters a love of the arts, a pride of achievement, and a curiosity about the world in all of the children that it touches. Our programs help children understand the hard work and dedication necessary to achieve success, a lesson they are able to apply to all aspects of their lives. CTB is closely affiliated with the National Dance Institute, founded by New York City ballet star Jacques d’Amboise 40 years ago. 

We were graciously brought down to teach in Punta de Mita nine years ago by a Vail, Colorado family. Since then we have grown to teach over 500 students a year in 10 different schools in the following eight towns: Punta Mita, Higuera Blanca, San Pancho, Sayulita, San Ignacio, el Guamuchil, Lo de Marcos, and Villa Morelos. We are currently teaching in Sayulita and San Igancio.

What is the mission of Celebrando el Ritmo?

Celebrate the Beat provides the highest quality in-school and after-school dance programs for all children that improves their physical health and well being, inspires them to believe in themselves, and establishes a standard of excellence that impacts all aspects of their lives.

How did you get involved with this program?

I originally got involved with CTB when I was living in Crested Butte, Colorado. An old friend of mine became executive director of our program and mentioned to me that I would be a great teacher. It was two years later in 2009 that I was hired to be an assistant teacher. The live musician in our daily classes and teaching in the public schools are reasons why I fell in love with this program. I enjoy teaching all children in a particular grade no matter their ability, ethnicity, or gender. I love to inspire children to believe in themselves and to show them the power of teamwork.

This is an annual program. Will you tell me more about it?

This is an annual program and depending on our budget and fundraising, we typically teach up to 18 weeks. Because we need to raise the money each year to bring it to communities, our schedule varies. This year we taught a 3- week program in el Guamuchil, where we had daily 45-minute classes and currently we are a 15-week program in Sayulita and San Ignacio. With our 15-week program we see each class once a week and are able to teach a total of 500 students weekly.

What is the theme of this year’s performance and what can one expect to see during the performance?

This year our theme is Poetry and students have read many famous poems. We are celebrating many poets such as: Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, Octavio Paz, Jaime Sabines, Maya Angelou, Shel Silverstien, Dr. Seuss, and even the historic poetry of the drum. Our interpretation of poetry in motion will make your head spin, as 350 dancers run and leap in a pattern that is full of excitement and creativity. We will have a 5-piece band playing the sound track for our show. You can expect a wide variety of music from reggae to hip-hop, polka to pop, with a little bit of gospel to top it off.

What are the details of the show?

Our show is on Wednesday, April 5th at 7 p.m. in the primary school of Sayulita. We will have 350 kids performing from CVIS and Damien Carmona. The performance is free and open to the public.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Our program is completely free to the public school children and people who believe in our program graciously fund us. If you would like to donate to Celebrate the Beat please visit our website here and click on the donate button. Your donation can be earmarked for Sayulita and the surrounding areas. Please help us continue to teach the children of Riviera Nayarit! If you have any questions about our program, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 322-109-0654 or email me here.