Dance Out Bullying

Nicole Johnson January 16, 2015

DANCE OUT BULLYING

Angelique Martinez is Founder of Dance Out Bullying Inc., a 501c3 organization that seeks to encourage young people to genuinely connect with each other and stand up against bullying via dance and performance. Angelique recognizes the severity of the social pressures young people encounter and believes that social media and technology have successfully widened the gap between 21st century parents and children. Nectar received the following statement from the organization.

“We would like for people to understand the severity of cyber bullying because times have changed. Many parents are not from the cell phone, social media and computer age. We didn’t grow up with cyber bullying. It wasn’t as readily accessible to be hurt someone and not see them. If we hurt someone it would be face to face, not behind a computer screen”.

The program is based in Orlando, FL and Angelique seeks to expand their efforts by visiting different states and hosting conversations with parents and youth. Inspired by a personal experience with her daughter, Angelic set out to develop Dance Out Bullying Inc. in 2013. The company has performed in Orlando, FL at a variety of self-produced community events which have acquired larger and larger audience attendance each year.

CHECK THEM OUT HERE.

” Dance Out Bullying, Inc. was created when my daughter was being bullied at school to a point of grave concern. I was unaware of how bad the bullying had become and thought she just needed to grow thicker skin. Once I started to hear how many times she had tried to have “thicker” skin and it didn’t work or get better I understood that middle school is much harder than when I attended school. I will always be grateful that I was notified before it was too late. If she had not posted her note on Instagram I would have lost my daughter in January 25th.

Most middle school through high school aged children are not very good listeners to begin with, they are more visual. So what better way to get the very important message of anti bullying across than through dance and current music…Something all kids can relate too. Creating this non-profit company has not only helped my daughter, who loves to dance and perform, but it has also helped me get through this tough time. Thank goodness we both share the passion and love for dance. It has been one more thing for us to bond and share”.