When we first met Talia Bailes in 2020, she was a Cornell University college student and lifelong dancer balancing school with running the literacy nonprofit she founded, Ballet and Books. The program, which combines movement with reading to promote literacy in children ages 3 to 9, was starting to expand outside of Ithaca, New York when the coronavirus shut down in-person dance.

Ballet & Books, an organization that strives to improve children’s literary proficiency through “a combination of dance instruction and dialogic reading,” will begin hosting programs at the Walnut Hills Branch Library this fall.

A Cincinnati native and lifelong dancer is overseeing the expansion of a national nonprofit that’s grown to eight communities, published a book and is helping to bridge the literacy gap for 400 children nationwide.

That doesn’t mean the sentiment of turning 2021 into the year of your victory is a fairytale—that is, if your mind is truly willing to accept “Record-Breaking Optimism.”

The United States has more than 4,300 colleges and universities. More likely than not, a college or university is close to you—and partnering with them is a great way to bring high-quality health and wellness programming to your public library.

WRFI's Skylar Eagle went to the Southside Community Center to talk to the volunteers of Ithaca's Ballet & Books Program, a mentorship opportunity for college students to teach ballet and literacy skills to school-aged children ages 3 to 9.

Cheddar U stopped by Ballet & Books to learn more about our program.

On Saturdays at Southside Community Center, dozens of kids run through the door in their leotards, say hello to their mentors and change their shoes as they prepare for a dance lesson through Ballet & Books.

Most Saturdays during the school year, 4-year-old Gemma Phipps heads to the Southside Community Center with her mom to practice her arabesques, her plies – and her reading skills.

Talia Bailes never imagined that her ballet training and her interest in early learning would collide. But Bailes, a senior studying global and public health sciences at Cornell University, now runs a successful non-profit called Ballet & Books, which combines dancing with the important but sometimes laborious activity of learning to read. And she has a trip to South America to thank.

Of all the things impacted by COVID-19, education sits near the top of the list. Seemingly overnight, millions of children across the globe were forced into remote learning, with teachers and administrators rewriting curriculum and policies on the fly. And now, as school districts everywhere grapple with how to safely and effectively educate their students, one thing is clear: learning must be able to extend beyond the four walls of a classroom.

In the summer of 2016, our guest on todays show, Talia Bailes, assisted with emergent literacy research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and was shocked to learn that if students are behind in academics by third grade, they will most likely continue to stay behind for the rest of their lives.