As part of its 25th Anniversary Season, Gem City Ballet was excited to revive its popular Dancing

program, first begun in 1998, for children with physical disabilities. The program continues for the 2019-20 season, consisting of two sessions of six or eight weekly dance classes along side GCB company members (participants may attend either or both), and an opportunity to perform on stage with GCB in April 2020.

Gem City Ballet is a pre-professional ballet company comprised of 23 devoted young dancers between the ages of 12 and 18. The Dancing

classes will involve both the dancers and the children with disabilities. A ballet instructor will run each class; Ellen Poti, a former physical therapist at Children's Medical Center will oversee the class. Each class will run for 45 minutes. One sibling of the children is also able to join the class. The class is limited to 20 children with physical disabilities. Children averse to loud noises might want to wear noise canceling headphones as it can get noisy in the studio!

The class will begin with exercises that are fun and inventive. The class will progress to motor skill exercises that are determined by the children's abilities. If the children are in wheelchairs, they are encouraged to dance with their wheelchairs, following specific patterns and incorporating turns and arm movements. If the child is using a walker or crutches, the dancers will work with the child to help them use their appliances in imaginative ways. If the child is ambulatory, marches, skips, gallops and prances are taught. The class progresses to the positions of the arms and feet in ballet, and includes simple ballet movements, such as plies, releves and port de bras. The final portion of the class is creative, with the dancers moving freely around the studio with scarves to different types of music, using different types of movement.

Classes will be video-recorded and parents are encouraged to wait in the waiting room and watch the previous week’s class as the current class is running. We ask that one parent stay in the building throughout the class to help with the child using the bathroom if needed. Parents are not allowed to watch, participate or observe class until the final class of each session, October 24 and April 17.

Participants in the second session can also perform on stage with Gem City Ballet in a special production of

, a highly imaginative ballet including dancing chickens. donkeys, lions, fish, birds, and skeletons, just to name a few.

will be part of GCB’s regular April performance series at the Stuart Sebastian Performance Space at PBS.  Rehearsals will immediately follow the Dancing

class on Wednesdays and during the week nights the week before the performances.
Although there are costs associated with this program, the DancingUnlimited children participate for free. The studio rental, the teachers, and performance costs will be paid out of Gem City Ballet funds. If you know of any organization or business that might be interested in sponsoring DancingUnlimited, please let us know about them.

Feel free to call (937-550-9245) or email (gcb@gemcityballet.org) us with any questions.  Otherwise, click here to register.

Dancing

is a dance program designed to introduce dance, music and movement to children with physical disabilities ages  5 - 18. It is exciting, invigorating and encouraging. Dancing

is a wonderful way to introduce a love of exercise to a child.

SCHEDULE

All classes are Wednesdays, 6-6:45pm
Pontecorvo Ballet Studios
20 Commercial Way, Springboro
Session 1:
September 4 - October 9, 2019
Session 2:
February 26-April 15, 2020
Performances (optional):
April 17-19, 2020
(Performance participants will need to attend rehearsals, including after the Wednesday classes.)