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Pierre Dulaine is a dance instructor who was the influence for the main character of Take the Lead. He is also a real leading dance instructor in the inner part of New York City, and his teaching has brought his techniques all across schools in the U.S. Today, there are more than 20,000 students across the country that use and teach Pierre Dulaine's dance techniques. He is, however, very popular and widely known throughout New York City and the inner city area of New York City.

Pierre Dulaine and Yvonne Marceau, founding artistic directors of American Ballroom Theater, are internationally renowned performers and teachers. They are the 1993 recipients of the prestigious Dance Magazine Award for their contributions to the field of dance, as well as recipients of the National Dance Council of America Award in 1992 and the Dance Educators of America Award in 1990. That same year, Mr. Dulaine and Ms. Marceau were awarded the 1989–1990 Astaire Award for “best dancing on Broadway” in the roles they created and choreographed as the mellifluous couple in Tommy Tune’s Grand Hotel.

As educators, Mr. Dulaine and Ms. Marceau have been guest faculty members at the School of American Ballet since 1986 and The Juilliard School since 1991. In 1994, they transformed their performing company into the outreach program "Dancing Classrooms", which in 2005 taught ballroom dancing in 68 schools in all the New York City boroughs. Starting from a single school, they, along with 34 teachers, currently reach nearly 8,000 10- and 11-year-old elementary school children each year. Their program is the subject of the current documentary hit film Mad Hot Ballroom and a fictional film, Take the Lead, based on Pierre’s teaching experience and starring Antonio Banderas, was released in 2006.

Quotes

"Nowadays, I don't say that the world is uncivil, but I believe we don't have enough civility in life and this is what this program teaches. If we can instill civility into children at the age of 10 or 11 - early enough in life - we can nurture it and have it grow with them. It will only make them better human beings." – Pierre Dulaine on ballroom dancing in schools.

"The message is still the same. The children learn ballroom dancing, yes; but the real thing they are learning are the transferable skills of decorum, etiquette, being polite with each other, respect, dignity. All of these things they are learning when they really need them, so I had no qualms with it being changed to high school. I don't really care if you're a 10-year old or 17-year old (that) when you're 25 that you remember the steps, but the transferable skills of being polite and knowing how to treat another human being is what my message is all about." – Pierre Dulaine on the message of Take the Lead.

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