NYT: Given a Chance to Be Little Ballerinas...

[DeepModem Mom]

Given a Chance to Be Little Ballerinas, and Smiling Right Down to Their Toes
By COREY KILGANNON
Published: May 5, 2006


(James Estrin/The New York Times)
Young girls who have cerebral palsy and other debilitating physical conditions rehearsed for their annual recital, held on Sunday at Mary Louis Academy in Queens. One girl said she loved "Swan Lake" because "it's about a girl who works very hard and never, ever gives up."


With its practice bar, mirrored walls and lush orchestral music, the small dance studio in Bayside, Queens, seems like countless other ballet schools that nurture the dreams of little girls.

Parents peek in from a crowded waiting room as a patient teacher demonstrates first-position to little girls proud simply to be wearing tights, tutus and ballet slippers.

But this studio holds one special class a week for dancers whose movements do not exactly exhibit the refined control of a prima ballerina. There are no lithe leaps, perfect pirouettes or pointed toes here. Most girls cannot walk or stand, much less make a shallow curtsy. Their crutches and walkers lie nearby and their customized ballet slippers are stretched over leg braces.

The eight little ballet students, who have cerebral palsy and other debilitating physical conditions, are assisted in class by teenage volunteers with strong healthy bodies and infinite patience. The teacher is Joann Ferrara, a physical therapist who owns and runs Associated Therapies, where most of the girls go for treatment.

Even at a tender age — the girls range from 3 to 7 — they grasp that they will never romp in a playground or flip onto a gym mat, let alone play hopscotch, tag or hide-and-seek. But being little girls, they are not immune to the dream of being a glamorous ballerina swathed in frilly pink, gliding gloriously on a stage in front of everyone....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/05/nyregion/05ballet.html?hp&ex=1146888000&en=1396cd02abcf084a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[flamingyouth]

1. That's a great story

Thanks for posting it. :hi:

[DeepModem Mom]

2. It is, indeed, a WONDERFUL story. nt

[blondeatlast]

3. I've bookmarked this for when it all gets to be almost too much.

Happy tears!

Thanks!

[Warpy]

4. Ballet training is a form of physcial patterning

repeating a physical motion over and over again until it becomes a part of a dancer and is always done exactly the same way. Some therapists have had success with patterning CP kids for simple things like walking, hopping on one foot, things we all take for granted.

I'm sure it works at least as well to do it in a tutu with silk shoes. The little girls would love it rather than hate it.