By Jason Sweeney

COURTESY OF JACKIE HAUGH The YMCA Youth Dancers gather outside HP Pavilion in San Jose, where they performed during the women’s collegiate basketball tournament.

The El Camino YMCA Youth Dancers have been thrilling audiences at sporting events around the Bay Area. The dancers range from ages 2 to 13 and perform everywhere from St. Francis High School to Stanford basketball and football games.

They have performed at the HP Pavilion for the women’s collegiate basketball tournament for the past two years.

Jackie Haugh founded the YMCA Youth Dancers four years ago after coming up with the concept of a dance class that could be used as a cross-training tool for athletes.

Now a sales associate at Coldwell Banker, Haugh taught dance at St. Simon Catholic School in Los Altos, and trained in health and fitness and group exercise at the YMCA branch on Grant Road in Mountain View.

She was a dance instructor at the Dance Attack studio for 10 years before deciding to create her own program at the El Camino YMCA.

“Every time I have come up with a new idea, the Y has backed me 100 percent,” Haugh said. “Everyone puts their heart and soul behind this project to make it so wonderful.”

The first year, Haugh had three classes and 30 children. She now has five classes with more than 100 students.

“The dance world can be very rigid and strict,” Haugh said. “I wanted a fun environment that stressed expression - not perfection - and where friends could all be together no matter what their physical level.”

Haugh tailors the program to correspond with the sport of the season, with appropriate stretches and strength training for the group’s after-school athletes.

“In the fall, we work on creative footwork across the floor and patterns for soccer,” she said. “For basketball, we do more cardio-vascular movement for stamina.

“For softball we do a lot of upper body conditioning for strength in their arms.”

Although the dancers are mostly girls, boys do participate, Haugh said, but typically only up to age 6.

Sylvia Peterson, a parent of two children who took classes with Haugh at Dance Attack, was so impressed that she enrolled her youngest daughter in Haugh’s YMCA dance program.

“I wanted her to experience Jackie,” Peterson said. “She is just so loving and giving with the children. It is an absolutely wonderful experience for all of them.”

“The highlight for the children is performing,” Haugh said. “They absolutely love an audience of any kind and the self-confidence they have gained will be a lifelong gift.”

For YMCA family members, tuition is $8 per class. For non-members, tuition is $9 per class, with a $40 program fee, which lasts for a year.

For more information about the YMCA Youth Dancers, call 969-9622.