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"Show me how." Though she didn't speak the words aloud, they marked an epiphany for Dana Phelps Marschalk. When she thought those words, she was standing on the street in Techwood Homes, a poor urban neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. It was 1986, and she was a volunteer with a Christian campus ministry, working with the kids of the neighborhood.

But she felt that the relationships she had with the kids she was working with weren't "real," as she put it. Plunked down with little training as a young idealistic white woman fresh out of college among mostly African-American kids in families without financial or other kinds of resources, Marschalk didn't see that she was accomplishing much and she didn't think the kids were getting what they needed either.

Walking through the neighborhood that afternoon, she noticed a group of kids hanging out and watched as they began to dance. A lifelong dancer, Marschalk had just graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in small business administration and a major-level load of courses in dance as well. She joined the group and began to dance. "How did you do that?" they asked.

"I learned from you," was her response.

That meeting on the street led Marschalk to form Moving in the Spirit with a fellow dancer and close college friend, Leah Mann, whose major was in dance. "We had always been critical of the competitive nature of the dance world. We dreamed about starting a dance company whose members could strive for excellence and love each other."

When Marschalk told Mann about her neighborhood encounter, the two of them envisioned a dance company of young people from the Techwood neighborhood, a company that would be based on strong beliefs and values. The foundation of the company, recounts Marschalk, would be respect, responsibility, accountability, and commitment. The founders made a commitment as well-making themselves a part of the community by living within it as Marschalk still does today.

Taken in by another faith-based organization, Moving in the Spirit began raising money, first from individuals and, as the organization grew deeper roots, through grants from organizations.

Today, Moving in the Spirit is thriving, due in no small part Marschalk believes to the founders' firm determination to stick to their original principles. "The ultimate vision is for the original faculty, including me, to work ourselves out of jobs so that Moving in the Spirit will be run by former students." Currently, two members of the company sit on the board of directors and two are teachers.

Based on the discipline of dance, the organization offers a series of youth development programs that young people can progress through. Beginning with Stepping Stones and progressing to a Performance Company, the programs teach dance as well as boosting self-esteem and instilling the values necessary to personal success. "When the kids come in, we create a circle and check in, says Marschalk, who is one of the teachers as well as the executive director. "The kids have a chance to say what's going on in their lives." She goes on to say that the class plan may change according to what is happening with the children. "We respond to what they need."

As the kids move from Stepping Stones through the Junior Company, the Apprentice Corps, and finally the Performance Company, where they are paid for their work, they begin to choreograph performance pieces and to speak in front of the audiences for which they perform. The themes of the pieces come from what the kids experience in their lives and have included such topics as racial reconciliation and pregnancy prevention.

"Show me how" continues to be a leading principle for both Marschalk and Moving in the Spirit as the teachers and the students learn from each other, a process that enriches the dance and the lives of all who are involved.