Hollywood Here We Come!!

These 10 dancers are about to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And us adults are in for quite a good time ourselves! In 48 hours, we will be in Los Angeles where these kids have been invited to perform at the Dizzy Feet Foundation's annual National Dance Day Celebration Gala at The Music Center. These dancers from Project UP and Element Dance Company will share the bill with dancers from American Ballet Theatre, the stars of Dancing With The Stars and So You ThinkYou Can Dance, Complexions Contemporary Dance Company and professionals from every genre of dance.

Top to bottom: Peyton Davis, Connor Furber, Zach Hulgan, Shelby Pearsall, Katie Slaton, Erika Davis, Anna Chilton, Carolyn Snoddy, Haleigh Briggs, Anna Giardini, Sarah Katherine Parker

In the audience will be a veritable who's who in the entertainment and dance world - celebrities of every sort. I'm convinced that when the curtain falls Saturday night, July 27, the audience won't be talking about the ballerinas or the professional ballroom dancers. They will be talking about the 10 kids in this picture and the dance piece, "Change the World."

It was just about this time last year that I got the idea to stage this dance number and enlisted Hayley Henderson, Artistic Director of the Johnny Stallings Arts Program and owner of Element Dance Company to put it together. In the past year, this dance has been performed at Merrimack Hall's Evening of Dance, at the NRG Dance Project in Atlanta, at the Alabama State Dance Championships (where it won First Place Overall and a platinum score) and at our annual spring recital. Each time it's been performed, there has been a thunderous standing ovation and an audience with tears of joy in their eyes. What makes this piece so extraordinary and moving? It's simple..."Change the World" uses dance to show that we are all more alike than we are different, that there's no such thing as "different" and that people with special needs are only limited by the labels society chooses to assign them.

The kids are very excited - more like elated! Today, we sat in a circle and talked about what sorts of questions we might be asked while we are in LA and practiced what our answers to those questions should be. We want to be sure to thank the Dizzy Feet Foundation for this opportunity every time we can. We want to be sure to use people-first language. We want to be sure that we remember this opportunity is all about Project UP and kids with special needs, not about typical teenagers who are amazing dancers. Each teenager spoke from their heart when I posed questions to them like, "Why do you like to dance?," "What does being in this dance mean to you?," and "What do you hope people take away from your performance?"

Of course, Katie said she wants people to know she's a star and Anna G. said she wants people to smile and be happy when they watch her dance. Claire said she hopes our performance will show people that kids with special needs can do anything they are given the chance to do and that she hopes our performance will inspire other organizations to include people with special needs in their programming. Melissa said she hopes our programs will jump to the national spotlight. Hayley said she hopes people will see that teaching dance to kids with special needs is no different than teaching dance to typical kids. Connor just said, "Bool-ya!"

While I want people to see how effective our program is and replicate it, what I also hope they see is that when you do something good for someone else, it comes back to you - in spades - every time. The five dancers from Element have donated their time - hours and hours of it - for years, helping kids with special needs participate in dance. They did this never expecting anything for themselves. And now, they are dancing in front of the most influential people in the dance business in one of the most storied and respected venues in the world - a dream come true for a young dancer! Who knows what opportunities this will bring to their careers as dancers and all because they were selfless enough to want to share their love of dance with kids who are routinely marginalized and left out?!

This is going to be a truly remarkable experience! I will be blogging daily so I hope you will follow along to read about our adventures!

Waiting on the World to Change - Part 3

Zach, Anna G and Carolyn at dinner after changing the world

Buckhead Pizza Company hasn't been the same since January 20, when five teenagers, their families and I ate dinner there immediately after the incredible performance of "Waiting on the World to Change" at the NRG Dance Project. Our waiter, Dwayne, looked quite apprehensive when we walked in - four teens with Down syndrome, one teen with autism and nine adults must have seemed like a tall order to fill. At the moment we entered, Katie was in the throws of a fit, stomping her feet as she walked and registering her complete displeasure with the situation through her facial expressions and body language.

What sparked Katie's outrage was a misunderstanding. When we left the lobby of our hotel to change for dinner, Katie had been under the impression that the only people going to dinner were the two of us. When she realized that her friends and their families were heading out the door with us, she stopped and said, "Ok, there's been a mistake. This just won't do." Her mother asked her what was wrong and she explained that the only people who were supposed to be going out to eat were Katie and me. As her mom tried to convince her that it was okay for the others to join us, her frustration only increased. Actually, she wasn't frustrated, she was furious.

"Katie, I will sit right beside you," I assured her. 

"Yeah," said Carolyn. "The rest of us won't even try to talk to Miss Debra - you can have her all to yourself."

But no matter what anyone told her, Katie was not happy. Once Dwayne got us seated and I started engaging Katie in a conversation, she began to relax. Eventually, she tapped on her glass to get everyone's attention, saying to the group, "I'm sorry how I acted before. I was just very disappointed."

The other kids accepted her apology with open hearts, with the sort of acceptance and forgiveness they always show. Within a very short time, all the kids were laughing and talking, Katie's anger completely forgotten. We thought the rest of our meal would be uneventful but then...

Layne, Anna G's big sister, suggested to Carolyn that she should wash her hair before she went to bed. Carolyn's hair had been straightened, curled and fussed with for two days - starting with the crew at HLN, where she made her national television debut (Part 4 of this series will detail that experience), then she had sweated throughout a day of intense dance classes and had more hairspray in her hair than Dolly Parton by the time we made it to dinner. Unbeknownst to Layne, Carolyn has an app on her iPhone that helps her keep up with her schedule, down to personal details like when she plans to wash her hair. She hadn't planned to wash her hair that night and, the more Layne insisted that she should, the more frantic Carolyn became. One of the ways Carolyn's autism manifests itself is in a ritualistic insistence on routine; deviations from her set routine are not allowed. Everyone starting chiming in, telling Layne to be quiet (she's used to me bossing her around and didn't take offense), telling Carolyn that she didn't need to wash her hair after all. But the damage had been done, the thought had been planted that Carolyn's routine should be adjusted and her meltdown went into full-out panic mode. As Dwayne tried to serve our appetizers, Carolyn's anguish turned into sobs, everyone jumped out of their chairs to rush to comfort her, Anna G was yelling at her sister to hush up and leave Carolyn alone, Layne was apologizing profusely and Dwayne looked like he was going to have a nervous breakdown.

All of the adults were having adult beverages. At about this point, I excused myself from the table and went outside to smoke a cigarette. I know...it's awful that I'm a smoker. I always say that I need at least one vice and since I'm like Mary Poppins - practically perfect in every way - smoking is my one flaw. Of course, that's a joke. I'm seriously contemplating a strategy for quitting this year. Anyway, by the time I rejoined the table, everyone had settled down, the food had been served and the conversation turned to how our program has changed everyone's life.

One of the moms said that I was such an amazing woman, that I had done something so remarkable, that Alan and I were the ones who were changing the world. "Guys," I said, "Give me a break. I just came back in here from smoking outside while I'm guzzling Budweiser in front of your children. You're talking about me like I'm Mother Theresa. We all did this together. It wouldn't have mattered if Hayley and I created a program and Alan paid for it if none of you had come on board."

What a leap of faith these parents took when they enrolled our children with us. There was nothing to show that Hayley or I were remotely qualified to do what we said we could do, no reason for parents to turn over their beloved - and vulnerable - kids to our care, even if it was just for 90 minutes at a time.  We ended up agreeing that we were pioneers together, that we all took a leap of faith when we joined forces. Hayley, Alan and I are no more responsible for the success of our programs than the students and their parents are. We entered into a pact together, one that required both sides of the equation to put a lot at risk. The parents had to risk their children's safety and security by trusting inexperienced folks like us. The students had to put themselves at risk and trust that we would never put them in a situation where they might be made to feel "less than," had to trust that the volunteers we pair them with would never have anything but their best interests at heart. And Hayley, Alan and I had to trust ourselves that we could go with our instincts and our hearts, even though none of us had any sort of pedigree, experience or education to help guide us. We all decided that, together we made one hell of a team.

While we had this deep discussion, the kids were amusing themselves with a series of knock-knock jokes, each one more ridiculous than the next. Knock-knock. Who's there? Train. Train who? Trains go fast, for example. Raucous laughter was coming from the kids' end of the table, making it difficult to place our dessert orders with Dwayne. Throughout our desserts, the knock-knock jokes continued.

Finally, exhausted Dwayne brought the check to the table, we paid and he returned with our receipt. I didn't notice until we were almost out the door that Dwayne had left us a note on the back of our receipt. It said, "Knock knock. Who's there? Dwayne. Dwayne who? Dwayne the bathtub, I'm dwoning. Thanks for a good time!" What an awesome guy! And what a fun dining experience!