In limbo over the cha-cha

Bennett says he's seen the Cha-Cha Slide, but has never done it. "I'm not the kind to make a public spectacle of myself," he said. "At a bar mitzvah or a wedding, maybe, my wife will do it. But I tend to stick to the slow dances."

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It's not unusual for school plays to draw administrative challenges. The aim of art, after all, is to challenge the senses and push the envelope. Friction is natural between principals, who are apt to be cautious and protective, and drama teachers, who tend to be . . . well, dramatic.

At Patrick Henry, drama teacher Alan Bennett has become part of the controversy.

The principal sees him as a prima donna who has been nursing hurt feelings since last year, when his students won a $5,000 drama grant from Disney. They were one of only two middle schools nationally to be honored for their performance of "High School Musical." The principal didn't congratulate them.

The teacher "assumed that because he won the world would stop; that there would be recognition from the school board and the check from Disney would be presented in a big public display," the principal said. "The whole school doesn't stop for one production. . . . We've got a lot of things going on here."

But it wasn't the teacher's victory, it was the students'. I can't believe there wasn't even a shout-out during morning announcements.

The parents see teacher Bennett as a nurturing force, so beloved among kids that his drama class is crammed with 53 students, and kids hang out at his classroom every day at lunch.

And I see him as one of those passionate, if overly sensitive, teachers whose North Star is his students' needs.

That's why "Little Orphan Annie" included magic tricks and tumbling routines and double-dutch jump rope and elaborate dance scenes. "Because whatever their talent," Alan Bennett told me, "every kid deserves a moment to shine."

And so do the teachers.

The opening night performance was accompanied by a video splashed on the wall of Patrick Henry of teachers stumbling through the Cha-Cha Slide--with some inadvertent bumping, if no grinding -- narrated by a gold-toothed rapper. "Take two steps back, now cha-cha, y'all."

Maybe the principal doesn't have much of a sense of humor, but the teachers looked like they were having a ball.

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sandy.banks@latimes.com