Corey Craddock dribbles at Carver Community Center. Thursday, November 21, 2024. (Photo by: Lexi Foley).
Echoes of squeaky shoes and the clap of a basketball compete with the shouts of Corey Craddock as he stops the game for the tenth time to “dispute a call”—in reality, the aging man just needed a break. His team laughed as they recorded an interview of how he’d been feeling about his game.
Because these courts are in the middle of a high-crime area, men walk through the doors of Carver Community Center and have their bags and coats checked. A security guard wands down their personnel to make sure no weapons are hidden. Chattanooga’s violent crime rate is 282% higher than the national average. One in 16 residents in Chattanooga is at risk of becoming a victim of violent crime. But despite the precautious entrance to the courts, Craddock found hope hooping with his brothers.
Trish King, the Construction Office Manager at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga Area talks about her experience working with volunteers and homeowners in the local community.
A public park, a mountain view, colorful homes, and bustling construction sites: these are all things you wouldn’t typically expect to see in a community with subsidized housing, but thanks to the work of the city and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga, this is the scene at the Villages of Alton Park.
Construction Office Manager Trish King has seen firsthand the effect that they’ve had fostering a community in the neighborhood.
“We are not building one house for one person in isolation,” said King. “It’s that there are people around here who’ve been through the same process, it’s being part of something bigger.”
Andrea Tankersley demonstrates how to perform an échappé sauté. Tuesday, February 6, 2024. (Photo by Abby White)
Little feet wrapped in socks and ballet slippers pitter-patter on concrete floors, metal chairs as makeshift barres, a mix between French ballet terms and the Spanish language are used to communicate the beauty of dance to little girls. This is non-profit La Paz Chattanooga ballet, taught by professional ballerina Andrea Tankersley.
Despite fighting through a language barrier within her childhood dance classes, Tankersley found a love for dance she passes down by teaching young Latina girls the art of ballet in their first language.
“It’s important for the classes to be taught in Spanish because it brings a sense of culture,” Tankersley said. “Knowing what your background is and where you come from, it allows you to be more confident and more unique.”
Andrea Tankersley evaluates her students’ form during practice. Tuesday, February 6, 2024. (Photo by Abby White)
Tankersley was immersed in vigorous dance classes in Mexico from a young age which continued when she moved to the United States at the age of nine through her senior year of high school. She continued her career in Nashville as a professional ballet dancer.
As a native Spanish-speaker, she encountered struggle after struggle when starting her dance journey in the United States. Luckily, ballet terms are universally in French so she was able to keep her head above water until she could understand English.
A language barrier is not the only personal struggle Tankersley overcame growing up in ballet classes. Tankersley was told throughout her dance career that she ‘had the heart of a dancer but not the body’. This is a viewpoint she strives to squash as a health and life coach; instead, she instills a more positive mindset into her students’ minds.
Tankersley received her health and life coach certification in order to improve her personal mindset and mental health, and in turn, is now able to help others with their mental health.
“I try to remind my students that each one of them is valuable. You are enough. You decide what you want to do. You have a voice,” Tankersley said.
To combat the strict and rigid composition of ballet she endured as a child, Tankersley always brings a fun and goofy twist to her classes. She believes that, especially at the age she is teaching, it is important to engage the kids with the fun aspects of dance rather than the cut-and-dry rules of the sport. Grande jetes across the floor turn into cartwheel contests, little laughs echo off the walls, and sweets are occasionally used as motivation.
“I’ve done a lot of class versus the teacher, and then we have cupcake parties if they win. You can have both things. You can have everything. It’s just your perspective and how you look at things,” Tankersley said.
Baylee Rauberts and Meredith Fullbright discuss skating and what it takes to get started. Video by Nessa Parrish.
The sounds of chirping birds and skateboard wheels meeting concrete blend together in a symphony adored by millions of people across the globe, including Meredith Fullbright, a student-teacher that has just recently started her journey with the sport, and Baylee Rauberts, a Chattanooga longboarder, with two years of riding under her belt.
