For this group of Blake High School students, it's the opportunity of a lifetime.14-year-old Tara Bowers and her classmates got the chance to learn from Jon Lehrer, founder of the New York City-based Jon Lehrer Dance Co. of NY o n Tuesday. These are moves they'll showcase later this week as openers for the dance company's showcase in Tampa.WATCH: Blake High School students get chance to dance with NYC professionals in special master classes Blake High School students get chance to dance with NYC professionals in special master classes"I think it's a really big and really good opportunity, and that it's like, like a fresh slate of being able to explore dance and explore movement from a new perspective," Bowers said. "I think like having a very wide pathway of all the things that we can do, and seeing all the different genres we dance, different styles, different artistic movements, I think having that variety is one of the biggest eye opening experiences that I've had here.""This really connects the young generation of dancers, or just the student who loves it to the professional world in a real way, seeing what it takes to get up on that stage, being backstage with the professional dancers, sharing and growing the community that way, grassroots style," Lehrer said.And beside Lehrer is Mahalia Brooks. It's a full circle moment for her."I am a fourth-year company member with Jon Lehrer dance company," Brooks said. "I am originally from the US Virgin Islands, but I grew up in Tampa, and I went to Blake."Brooks graduated from Blake High School in 2017 and is now back as a professional dancer, sharing her expertise with current students. Returning to her alma mater brings back a flood of memories."It feels great. I'm a little like, Oh my gosh. Like, like, a lot of high school things are coming back. But also it's like a bittersweet feeling, like I miss it a little bit because adulting is hard. But also, like I was a kid, life was free, so I miss it in that term. So it feels great being back," Brooks said."I remember being a student, like, getting like, Desmond Richardson, like really cool companies, like, come in and you get this, like, kind of one on one experience that you don't really get like anywhere else, especially in high schools or in public schools. So it was really great experience. And now being on the other side, I feel like I'm giving back, especially to my community, so it's great opportunity for me," Brooks said.This is Brooks' second time returning to Blake with the company. The experience has taught her valuable lessons about teaching and connecting with young dancers."It helps me, like, navigate how to be like a teacher, because what we do is very human, more on side, and then we just add dance moves on top of it. So it's nice to be able to like fix it and see like when we go to schools that don't have these dance programs, like how to like make it for them, and how they can understand it, say it in different terms, use different languages rather than tan do plie, they don't really know what those words mean. So we have to say, bend your knees, or move through the floor, move through the ground, things like that. So, yeah, it's really cool opportunity," Brooks said.Bowers, who has been dancing since she was 6 years old, tells me that Brooks' return to Blake is inspiring, giving her the fuel to dance her best in front of the two people living her dream."It's like, really eye opening and seeing people like that came from where I'm the position that I'm at right now. I think it's, I think it's a big revelation seeing that, seeing that flow through," Bowers said.The sophomore is considering dance as a potential career path, and this experience is helping shape her perspective."I think I would love to explore, like, that creative dance space in the future," Bowers said. "Obviously, I feel, I feel I have to, you have to showcase to the best of my ability."Jon Lehrer Dance Company has been touring for 18 years, with 17 of those years including Florida stops. The company has been working with Tampa-area schools for about 10 years, but last year marked their first major performance in the city."We have been coming to Tampa for probably 10 of those 17 years, but last year was the first time we did a major performance. So we had been coming doing a lot of community engagement, working with the young dancers from elementary school all the way up through college as we tour the rest of the state. And last year we did our first kind of major show, and we're repeating it this year, even bigger," Lehrer said.This grassroots approach helps break down barriers to dance education, Lehrer explained. The company doesn't just perform in major theaters but works directly with schools and communities."We are what's known as a grassroots company. We build our communities all over the world, and we tour over the world grassroots style. So we don't come in and go to the biggest theater and say, Come watch us. We say, Okay, we're going to come in work with you in your place, here at Blake High School, at Gibbs High School, at other places, and say, Hey, you want to open our show," Lehrer said."There are so many barriers to the arts in general, not only dance," Lehrer said. "Maybe student can't afford to go to that dance studio. Maybe they don't have time, maybe they have to work afterwards, right? Help support their family this by giving this to them and not charging them, right? Saying you're going to come and learn something and perform and celebrate this art form with us."The company's weekend performances will feature both professional dancers and local high school students from Blake and Gibbs high schools. Shows are scheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center."As far as the company goes, pieces not seen here last year. So we brought a whole new program, a couple of world premieres that happened this year, and a couple of classic pieces, again, all that have never been seen here, and all of them really exemplify what we're known for, and that is a very unique blend of artistry, athleticism and really just pure entertainment," Lehrer said.One of the featured pieces is particularly meaningful to Lehrer. The work, titled "Foster," is a tribute to his younger brother Michael Foster Lehrer, who died from ALS three years ago."This piece was my response to that, and not only a tribute to him, but really a glimpse for me into dealing with that. And I just cannot wait for the Tampa audience to see it, because a lot of people here have known me a long time, and they know about my baby brother, who was my best friend. So this piece has also special meaning that way," Lehrer said.The performances are designed to appeal to diverse audiences, from dance enthusiasts to newcomers."So we believe, as a modern dance company, who is also heavily influenced by jazz dance, that you can have all those things. So our show will appeal to the dance aficionado, right, and also to the soccer parent who gets dragged to a recital but doesn't really get it. They're going to have a great time at our show," Lehrer said.For Lehrer, working with young dancers connects him back to his own beginnings and reminds him why he started dancing. "What it means to me is all is one. Why I started dancing. I started dancing because I was luckily exposed to that, seeing these, you know, as someone once put it, these, these, these acrobats of gods, you know, just on stage. And then someone introducing me to them, it was like, Oh, wow. That is so cool when I was younger, and for me, I like to see that I still kind of have that in me," Lehrer said."When I see a young dancer just glowing, either on stage or backstage, even more after or before, before they perform, and then going out into the audience and watching the professional dancers, there's nothing like it. And you know, if we make a little difference, great, you know, but the joy we share together on that stage in that space is second to none," he said.During the master classes, instructors focus on momentum and physics rather than traditional dance terminology, making the art form more accessible to students at different skill levels. Brooks explained how this approach helps reach students who might not have extensive dance training."It's also like a dance experience too. Like a lot of the times one person can say, like, reach through your fingers, and then the next person can say something exactly the same way, but it clicked when the second person said it. So I'm hoping that when we go through all of these different schools that it clicks for them when we say it, especially because we say it 10 million different ways," Brooks said. ...read more read less