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COOL STUFF
The Danceability factor
By Leah Rankin
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Photos and logo courtesy of Danceability, Inc.
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“It’s my fun time,” says dance instructor Christine Kwiatkowski. “I truly enjoy it.”
Kwiatkowski is talking about her innovative dance school, Danceability, Inc., a project she started in 2007 along with co-founder Robin Bishop. Performers themselves, the friends searched for a way to combine their two passions: dance and working with special needs children. Now in the studio’s third year, the instructors could not have imagined the enormous impact their dance program would have on the community.
In the Danceability, Inc. studio in Cheektowaga, Bishop and Kwiatkowski encourage kids and adults alike to relax and enjoy the freedom of movement and expression with their families. The dancers all have very different needs. But Danceability, Inc. welcomes everyone, regardless of the challenges that ADHD, autism, or Down syndrome can present.
“All of them show us something we didn’t expect,” Kwiatkowski says. After only a few months in the dance studio, almost every student starts to open up, she explains. The quiet kids have made new friends, the shy kids are showing off their dazzling costumes, and the stubborn kids have begun to relax.
Bishop and Kwiatkowski keep the classes challenging by offering a full range of dance forms, including tap, jazz, and ballet, as well as free-form creative movement. For dancers who want to perform for an audience, an annual recital is held, filled with choreographed dances and colorfully designed costumes. For every child involved, says Kwiatkowski, “they have the ability to participate in something that nondisabled kids can.”
For their parents that is a reward all by itself. Cathy Wilde enrolled her seven-year-old daughter, Mary, last year; Mary has Down syndrome. Wilde knew her daughter already liked music, and when it was paired with dance, she began showing improvement in every aspect of her life—literally by leaps and bounds. “Mary has learned how to follow a routine and cooperate with her instructors,” Wilde says. “It gives her another opportunity beyond school to adapt to a new situation or environment and thrive.” Wilde adds, “Dance is a perfect outlet for Mary.”
Now, Mary Wilde can’t wait to go to dance class every week. “Mary is not very verbal, but last year, on our way to her first class after being off for several weeks, she started bouncing up and down in her car seat and saying ‘Mom! Mom! I’m excited!’” Wilde recalls.
In the future, the dance teachers hope to increase the current studio space. And speaking of change, the teachers themselves have experienced just as much as the young dancers. As Kwiatkowski admits, “[The kids] teach me more than I teach them.”
Danceability, Inc. is located at 3859 Union Road, Suite 400, in Cheektowaga at the Tops/George Urban Plaza. For more information, visit www.danceabilityinc.com or call 651-0094.
Leah Rankin co-edited Spree’s 2009 WNY Performing Arts Guide.
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