On Their Toes At Ellington

Students in the dance department at The District's Duke Ellington School For the Arts now have two brand new studios where they can receive instruction in modern dance and ballet.

You might recall that in 2006 angry parents at Ellington contacted me, then supplied 9 News Now with digital pictures of buckling dance floors, a leaking roof, busted underground pipes, smelly bathrooms with showers that haven't worked in years and broken lockers.

We aired our first report on a Sunday night at eleven...and then a few subsequent news stories that also revealed the renowned school for the Arts couldn't use it's gym because the light fixtures were falling from the ceilings. Several labs were also off limits. There was a major water leak in the auditorium and plaster was falling inside and outside the building.

$300,000 has been spent to get the 59 dance students and faculty back into the studios.

Charles Augins, Chairman of the Dance department who commutes to work at the school in Northwest DC, from Baltimore says "This is both my Christmas and Easter".

Click here to watch (Duke Ellington Story) .