Andalusia Middle School seventh and eighth grade students who got to be part of a dancing flash mob at last year’s Halloween on the Square are in for a real treat.

This year, the woman who coordinated that fun will teach dance during PE classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Addy Gantt is leading the program as part of an Andalusia Ballet outreach program.

“The kids over there know me a little already,” Gantt said “We have good energy, so I’m excited about this.”

Gantt moved to Andalusia as a 12-year-old who already had been part of a state championship gymnastics team. She began teaching gymnastics classes as a teen. She taught acrobatic dance and jazz in high school, and went on to earn a dance degree at the University of Alabama.

She spent six years after college working with the Andalusia Ballet.

“Mrs. Murphy was mentored me for six years as a teacher,” Gantt said.

She left Andalusia to pursue master’s degrees at New Hampshire’s Antioch University in dance movement therapy and counseling psychology. While living in New Hampshire, she also spent five years teaching dance in public schools.

At AMS, the dance class also will have a cultural element, with six-week sessions planned and different styles of dance, including a Jamaican study, Native American study, and Hip-Hop, among others.

The warm-up for each class also will introduce students to yoga, which is one of the classes Gantt teaches at the Andalusia Ballet.

“I’m hopeful we can get the kids active and moving,” Gantt said.

Students who choose to participate will be asked to commit for the whole year, and students will participate in a performance at year’s end.

As well, top students will be chosen to participate in weekly dance classes at the Andalusia Ballet’s home in the Church Street School Cultural Arts Centre.