Hope everyone is having a great summer. A Chance to Dance recently had the opportunity to hang out and dance with some very special kids at Shriners Hospitals for Children-Houston.
The first patient arrived to the dance class a few minutes after our ACTD crew completed set-up at the hospital. She was quiet, still, and sitting in a wheelchair. Her grandma was with her and began immediately encouraging her to "stand-up" and "dance with the teachers". She was timid at first and very watchful of the teachers. She began participating with small gestures and movements, always keeping in time with the music. Soon she began moving her feet rapidly to the beat of the music and completing higher level ballet moves with mild prompting. Her grandmother told us that she is a ballet and contemporary dancer, and it definitely showed. She had graceful arms and demonstrated her balance with passes and grande plies. While no words were spoken verbally, her joy was evident through her smile and familiar recognition of dance. Towards the end of class, her grandma commented that her participation was amazing considering that she had only begun walking about a week ago.
Another patient began simply by watching the class before participating. He let us know that he likes to "free-style" rap and wanted to teach us how to "swag" before our group left that day. We all had a blast learning and teaching some hip-hop moves to him. He did end up approving of our "swag" walk by the end of the morning. Lots of laughter was shared and our teen volunteers were able to chat with him about contemporary Christian rap artists and even played some basketball before we left.Once again, dance proves to transcend past the body to the soul. It transcends past cultural differences so that an eclectic group of teen volunteers and teen patients can hang out and enjoy music and movement together.
Everyone had such a great time and we were able to gave great individual attention to the patients there. We were all grateful for the opportunity and our volunteers remarked that they can't wait to come back and do it again.
Thanks Shriners for a great morning!
Leah
