National Dance Institute's DREAM adaptive dance workshop celebrates 10th anniversary
NEW YORK - An adaptive workshop in Harlem is uniting different types of dancers for a totally unique experience.
The nonprofit National Dance Institute trains the community's children through scholarships and in-school programs, touching two million lives since its inception in 1976. Perhaps the most impactful part of its mission is the DREAM Project.
"If you have a body and you want to dance, you are welcome here," said Kay Gayner, NDI artistic director and co-founder of the DREAM Project.
The weeklong adaptive dance workshop celebrated its tenth anniversary with a special alumni reunion recital. Pediatric physical therapist and DREAM Project co-director Dr. Agnes McConlogue Ferro, along with workshop instructors, introduce differently-abled dancers to the Institute's scholars in a style described as "individualized inclusion."
"They're performing the same dance, but there may be what we call translations for each partnership, depending on whatever their specific needs are, their abilities. But we really shine a light on whatever their strengths are," McConlogue Ferro said.
Each piece is choreographed in under 12 hours. Their final Friday performance showing music's power to move, inside and out. Gayner also gets the audience involved.
"It creates a kind of unison that, to me, is even more thrilling than something that's perfect precision unison," Gayner said. "It's really interesting to see all the personalities and capabilities of all the dancers blossom."
"Children who may be afraid to touch each other, then are hugging each other and interacting with each other," McConlogue Ferro added. "It goes beyond the room. It goes beyond the studios. It goes to acceptance and belonging and inclusion as it's meant to be."
They are looking forward to the next decade of bringing together dancers of all abilities to open new possibilities.
The National Dance Institute was founded by New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques D'Amboise to make dance and arts education accessible to all children. To learn more about available programming, click here.
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