From the Desk of Amy Friedman
POPS the Club Executive Director and Co-Founder
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Greetings!
In April, at a Venice High POPS meeting, as seniors began to talk about what was coming next, Leahnora Castillo announced that she will be attending a dance college come September—in Barcelona, Spain! Leahnora’s poem,
Forgotten, was about to be published in IN THE KEY OF LOVE (our 5th POPS anthology), but instead of reading from her poem at our book launch, she asked if she could dance.
On launch day, onstage at The Coconut Grove Theater, Leahnora astonished all of us with her talent, and her grace, and as I watched her sail across that stage, I knew I wanted to learn more about who this young woman was, and what had brought her to POPS.
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It was obvious that day that she had been studying dance since she was four years old—at the
Lula Washington Dance Theatre—and that she is in so many ways her mother’s daughter. Mom grew up in Guatemala but went on to attend the prestigious
Idyllwild Arts Academy in California before going to Bennington, and ultimately joining a professional dance company. And it was also obvious why Leahnora, at the age of 15, was accepted into the dance program at LA County High School of the Arts (LACHSA)—she was one of just 24 accepted from thousands who applied.
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But Leahnora tells me that despite her mom’s support, her talent, the joy of dance, there were dark forces at work, too. For 14 years, her dad has been in and out of her life, and his criminal activity colored her experience. “We knew where we could walk and where we couldn’t from the earliest age,” she says. “Because of gangs.” She describes herself and a group of friends as “troublemakers,” and she was kicked out of Beethoven Elementary School in 4th grade for bad behavior. Later, at Mark Twain Middle School, Leahnora was popular with kids and teachers—her mom was the beloved dance instructor—but Leahnora continued to chase trouble. Gang and race affiliations separated kids from each other. At the age of 12, she was arrested for the first time.
Leahnora says, “Everyone was happy for me when I was accepted to attend LACHSA for 9
th grade, but that year she woke at 5 every day to carpool to school where she studied and danced from 8 to 4. Seeing friends on social media having fun together, she longed to return to school in her neighborhood.
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Leahnora left LACHSA for Venice in her sophomore year. There a couple of old friends introduced her to POPS. “It was a saving grace,” she says. Otherwise things weren’t going well. She came to school mostly to attend POPS meetings and wound up failing all her classes. Again she transferred, this time to Phoenix Continuation School. “I was living a lie,” she says. “My friends at LACHSA thought I was being homeschooled; my friends at Venice thought I’d gone back to LACHSA.” She got straight A’s at Phoenix, inspired by a desire to return to Venice, and to POPS.
Again moved by her friends’ experiences with POPS, Leahnora decided to write about her childhood, her dad, and incarcerated friends. She wanted to better understand her life’s experiences. “It was hard to write, and sending that poem to Mr. Danziger to read was even harder, but once I did, I felt this huge weight lift off my shoulders. POPS is the reason I went to school. POPS is the reason I graduated.”
Leahnora will turn 19 in December, and she’ll be dancing in Barcelona, but she wants to visit POPS whenever she can, and she wants POPS to spread.
And it’s because of your generosity that young people like Leahnora are thriving! Because of you, she is dancing towards a future full of opportunities.
With gratitude,
Amy Friedman
Co-Founder & Executive Director
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P.O. Box 10461
Marina Del Rey, CA 90295
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