Summer fun with dancing, performing

Volunteer Jo Reynolds dances the River Waltz with Chad Lovelace, 11,

at a recreation dance lesson in Tennessee.

It's nice to see the growing number of dance and performing programs for people with disabilities around the USA and that they are getting some media coverage.

The Commercial Appeal in Memphis wrote about the Germantown Parks and Recreation Department's free dance lessons for people who have intellectual or physical disabilities and their families and friends. They also sponsor social dances such as a masquerade ball and a spring fling. Participants in the lessons have learned the bop and the cha-cha.

The dance lessons are taught by instructors from the River City Boppers and the Memphis Bop Club. "This has been the most rewarding thing I've ever done," said Sandy Harris, a member of the River City Boppers. "Dancing has become so popular in the last few years. It's wonderful exercise. To share it with these young people is extremely rewarding."

And The Daily Breeze in Torrence, Calif., profiled Performing Arts Studio West, which trains developmentally disabled adults in acting, singing, dancing and production, and which currently has one of its studio members, Luke Zimmerman, appearing in a new ABC Family TV show.

With a passion for performing, John Paizis and longtime friend Randy Klinenberg opened the studio in 1998 with five students. The studio now has a waiting list, and its members have been quite successful, with members being case in more than 800 roles. Most members do about 10
auditions a month.

At the studio, the future performers are trained by professionals in the acting, producing and songwriting fields.

Paizis, a longtime actor and musician, taught at a day program for developmentally disabled children for 20 years, using music and humor as therapeutic tools in his classes.

Klinenberg says the studio members' success is all their own doing. "When they see themselves on a TV program, you can't build self-esteem any better than that," Klinenberg says. "Parents say the change is enormous. They walk out of here completely different people."