5/15/2011 3:00:00 PMMarion-Sterling, Cleveland School of the Arts dancing teams win silver medals in dance competition

PHOTO RIGHT : Yellow team Antonio Pope, 11, and Totiana Hill, 11, dance the Swing as they represent Patrick Henry Elementary School, one of seven area schools competing in the Colors of the Rainbow team match Grand Finals at the Ohio Theatre- PlayhouseSquare Saturday, May 14, 2011, in Cleveland.

Gallery: Colors of the Rainbow 2011 (9 photos) : Seven area schools compete for the top trophy in the Colors of the Rainbow Grand Finals at the Ohio Theatre Saturday, May 14, 2011, in Cleveland.

May 15, 2011, 3:00 PM   

Story and photo by Peggy Turbett, The Plain Dealer 

The orange team of Crouse Community Learning Center of Akron danced their way to the gold in the 2011 Colors of the Rainbow Grand Finals Saturday at the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland.

The blue team from Cleveland's Marion-Sterling Elementary School won a silver medal. Also winning silver medals were the green team of Cleveland School of the Arts and the purple team of Schumacher Elementary School in Akron.

Bronze medals were awarded to the red team of Elm Street Elementary School in Painesville, the yellow team of Patrick Henry School in Cleveland, and the pink team of McElbright Elementary School in Akron.

The seven area schools competed for the top trophy, sponsored by Dancing Classrooms Northeast Ohio. The team match culminated a 10-week, 20-lesson program in 19 schools.  In its third year of promoting social skills through ballroom dance, the program reached 56 classrooms and 1,400 students in northeast Ohio in 2011.

Dancing teams, assigned various colors of the rainbow, competed in the merengue, fox trot, tango, swing and rumba. The judges for the 2011 Colors of the Rainbow were Pamela Marshall Holmes, senior director of community outreach for Cleveland Clinic, Danielle Serino, news anchor and reporter for WOIO Channel 19, and Jim Tressel, head football coach at Ohio State University.