“I loved Joan Sheary even before I met her. When my daughter was nine, she attended a summer camp in Maine. When she left for the summer, she was a young girl who loved to dance. When she returned, her passion for dance had not only deepened, but she had developed a work ethic, focus, and confidence that, at such a young age, was shocking. Even now, at age 30, she still carries the lessons she learned that summer with her in her career as a graphic designer. So what changed for my daughter that summer in 1999? Quite simply, she met Joan Sheary.
“Fast-forward to 2009. After a career as a magazine/book editor followed by a stint as a full-time mom, I found myself in BU film school. To get my associate’s degree, I had to make a five-minute documentary about someone inspirational. Knowing that Joan was a public-school dance teacher in Worcester, Massachusetts, I saw this as an opportunity to get an inside peak at what made Joan such a special teacher and figure in my daughter’s life. And after one day of shooting her teaching her high-school students, I knew a five-minute film wouldn’t do justice to what I was seeing. Joan’s public-school dance program deserved a feature-length documentary.
“Fast-forward to 2019. We have filmed for a total of 450 hours over a ten-year period. The result is Toe the Line: Arts Education for Life—a 76-minute documentary about Joan Sheary, the origin and breadth of the program she created, the students’ lives she’s touched, and a city that supports the arts. It took the vision of the brilliant educator and administrator Dr. James Garvey and the initiative and resourcefulness of the talented Miss Joan to build this program on a zero budget. But they did it, and it is stronger than ever today.
“As a believer in, and advocate for, public-school arts education, I’m overwhelmed by what Joan Sheary has accomplished. And as a filmmaker, I am blessed to be able to tell this story.”
— Barbara Copithorne, Director, Toe the Line
