SIAMARA NIVEN: BUILDING CONFIDENCE THROUGH DANCE

At the Y, we believe all kids deserve the opportunity to discover who they are and what they can achieve. Through Y programs including dance, teen leadership, sports, childcare, summer camp and afterschool, kids take an interest in learning and cultivating the values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. Each week more than 300 youth participate in our dance programs, everything from ballet to Hip Hop. The goals are to help children learn the art of dance, improve self-esteem, encourage social connections, and promote physical activity.

“The Y has definitely been a good place to grow up. I had a lot of low self-esteem problems when I was younger and performances and dancing in front of people has really helped build that. So it’s really helped me overall as a person. Being at the Y all these years, it’s always been supportive. It has been a great experience and I am definitely glad I’ve been at the Y and not another dance studio. I am still in touch with some of the teachers and girls I danced with and always look forward to visiting them when I’m home from college. I also had the privilege to work at the Y as a summer camp counselor this past summer and was able to continue to teach dance to children and help out people within the Y community.”

~ Siamara Niven, active in the Y Dance Program for 13 years and now a Dance Major at UNH

Through the efforts of our capital campaign, we are building a 5,500sf addition to the Nashua Y that will double the cardio area, add a Program Studio to support wellness programs, dance programs and other movement-based programs for children, and create a new multi-purpose room that will house our healthy living initiatives. Nutrition classes, chronic disease prevention programs, and education seminars will now have a home. The room will be available for programming by non-profits in the community without space of their own.