Some Ahwatukee Foothills children are learning more through dance than poise and step routines.

Those involved in the Dance Button Project are also learning about respect and camaraderie.

The project, which originated at the Chris Collins Dance Studio in Alexandria, Va., was created to teach young dancers important values and combat the cutthroat "win-at-all-cost" approach prevalent in some dance circles.

More than 700 uniquely numbered buttons inscribed with the words "Awesome Dancer" were made and distributed around the country, including Arizona, to dancers to award to their peers. No criterion is set forward for who can receive a dance button - the project is solely intended to foster good will.

"Many students awarded their buttons to dancers who exhibited outstanding talent on stage, while others sought out dancers who gave great effort, persevered through adversity, showed a lot of potential or simply exhibited what they considered an award-worthy smile," read a description given on the project's Web site, www.DanceButton.com.

Someone who receives a button can visit the Web site's message board and look up their number to find a message left by the button giver. That dancer is then encouraged to give the button to someone else, to keep the chain going.

Tara Fisher of Ahwatukee Foothills ordered 30 buttons for her two daughters, Marissa, 10, and Jessica, 8, to give out to their fellow dancers at competitions.

"Dance competitions by and large are really negative things," Fisher said. "And so I thought (the Dance Button Project) would be something really nice to bring to our competition."

Fisher's two daughters gave away 16 of the buttons at the DuPree Dance Expo in Phoenix in November and expect to give away the remaining 14 at another competition coming up in January.

Already, the message boards are buzzing with comments back and forth between button givers and surprised recipients.

Fisher reports that her daughters have already made close friends from other dance studios because of the project.

"It takes some of the competition part out of the competition," Fisher said, "which I think is really a positive thing."