OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Four times a week, Ieisha Phelps watches as 55 pairs of red Converse-clad feet pour into her O.NE Finest dance studio.
The Omaha World-Herald (https://bit.ly/1PHCvBT ) reports that 19 trophies taller than many of the dancers line the blue and purple studio walls. O.NE (which stands for Omaha, Nebraska) Finest has won dance competitions such as Crown My Crew and Nebraska’s Got Talent.
O.NE has danced in the Omaha NAACP’s Juneteenth parade and recently was invited to perform in an Omaha Beef halftime show in May. The dancers also were featured on the Lifetime show “Bring It!” which follows hip-hop troupe the Dancing Dolls of Jackson, Mississippi.
But to Phelps, O.NE is about much more than wins and appearances. She sees this studio as a safe haven, a place for girls to have fun and do something they love. It’s also a place where they are held accountable for their actions at home and at school.
Phelps’ dancers are required to show quarterly progress reports and maintain a C or above in all classes in order to compete. School comes first, dance second, Phelps says.
“They love to dance,” she said. “They push themselves because they want to come here.”
Nicole Brown, the mother of Phelps’ oldest dancer, Me’Khia, 17, said the dancers are always excited to turn in their progress reports because they’re eager to show Phelps their improving grades. Phelps recently held an awards ceremony for dancers who made the honor roll, and nearly everyone did.
Since the opening of a new studio March 1, the number of dancers has increased from 32 to 55.
This is still unbelievable to Phelps, who three years ago was teaching six girls to dance around couches and tables in her living room. Now, the 26-year-old has her own studio at 60th Street and Ames Avenue.
The girls run across the padded floor, greeting Phelps and each other with hugs and smiles. Two girls yell, “Look, Ieisha, we made up a dance!” They show her a combination of moves and then fall to the ground giggling. Phelps, in matching red Converse shoes, laughs with them from the front of the room.
“All right, girls, line up. Hands on hips. Ready position. Straight lines.”
Immediately, 55 girls assemble themselves silently into five single-file lines for stretches and warmups.
“Who are we?” Phelps asks the class.
“O.NE!” the dancers answer.
“Who are we?”
“O-N-E-F-I-N-E-S-T,” the girls spell out as they do jumping jacks.
According to the studio’s mission statement, “O.NE Finest is all about empowering young girls mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually; giving them tools that they can use from childhood to adulthood and making education our number one priority.”
On Monday evenings at the studio, Phelps and the three other instructors tutor the dancers. They help the girls learn everything from spelling to American government. On normal practice days, before Phelps leads the class in stretches, she stretches their brains, taking the first 25 minutes to check homework for completion and accuracy.
Phelps also assigns supplemental educational projects. She has her students read a book of their choice over the weekend and bring a report to the next dance class. During Black History Month, Phelps assigned each girl an African-American historical figure to research and present to the class.
Shawnda Jones’ daughter Rayonna was one of the first dancers Phelps taught in her living room. Jones said before Rayonna started dancing with O.NE, she was getting into trouble and had poor grades. O.NE changed that.
“We took the phone, we took the TV. It didn’t work,” Jones said. “With dance … my daughter is awesome now.”
Jones said now Rayonna never misses school and she tutors other students in math.
“This isn’t just about dancing,” Jones said. “There’s discipline in dancing. That’s what she’s doing for these girls.”
Upanda Mozee, another head instructor at O.NE, is Phelps’ aunt who taught her how to dance when she was 6. Mozee said O.NE teaches the girls responsibility - they have to keep track of practice times and what to wear to each show - and equips the dancers with good life skills - “Like competing friendly, competing fairly, but not (being) afraid to compete.”
Phelps also promotes a bully-free zone at O.NE. Fifty-five anti-bullying contracts signed by the dancers line the wall above the studio’s mirrors. She said she wants the studio to be different from what the girls experience “in society.”
“The way that the economy is right now … (girls are) running the streets, they’re getting pregnant,” Phelps said. “If they have somewhere to come, the chances of that happening are slim.”
Phelps was a junior at Central High when she got pregnant with her oldest daughter, Saniya. Phelps also has a 5-year-old son named Floyd Jr. and a 3-year-old daughter named Khyla.
Her junior and senior years, Phelps managed schoolwork and raising a baby as a single mother. “My mom never put me in anything to keep me from looking at boys,” Phelps said. “I think having a place where they can go and call home and be around friends each day is very important.”
Phelps said she hung out with “the wrong people” in high school and was easily influenced, resulting in a handful of juvenile misdemeanors, including shoplifting and disturbing the peace.
“Growing up I wasn’t the sweetest kid,” Phelps said. “I definitely disobeyed in my younger days. … Once I became a parent at 16, I wanted to change some things, so I changed the people I was around and changed my actions.”
Phelps said she wants to prevent her dancers from making decisions like she did. She said she emphasizes leadership because that was something she lacked. She also promotes creativity and independent thinking so that the girls can make good choices on their own.
Outside of O.NE, Phelps is the director of after-school programs at Prairie Wind Elementary School. She also works as a van driver for Classy Kids day care, picking children up from their homes and driving them to the center as well as from the center to their schools.
Until last August, when Phelps needed to raise funds for the permanent facility, O.NE classes were free to dancers. Phelps bought the dancers’ uniforms, using a combination of competition prize money and her own, as long as parents bought dance shoes.
Now, Phelps charges a monthly fee of $35 to help pay for the studio. If a child can’t pay, Phelps will help out.
“I work for the kids,” Phelps said. “I make sacrifices so that they can have everything they need.”
These sacrifices - the time tutoring girls, the travel to competitions, the rent for the facility - don’t go unnoticed by parents like Brown, who said her daughter is transforming because of O.NE and Phelps.
“I see her growing just by being around Ieisha,” Brown said. “Ieisha loves the kids and loves to help people. She has a passion and love for what she does and I think that’s what (my daughter is) seeing.”
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, https://www.omaha.com
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