Pleasantly Surprised and Dancing With the Stars

I was walking by a dance studio a while back with my kids. I popped on in and just was honest with the director. I wanted my daughter to attend a dance class and have fun and wear a tu-tu but I wasn’t sure how well she would be able to follow directions. I told her about the Down Syndrome and the low muscle tone. I told her I didn’t want her to be disruptive to the children whose parents were sending them to learn dance and make some serious progress. I told her I was not sure if Donna Marie was a good candidate for her school and did not want to pressure her in any way to accept her if she was not a good candidate.

I was so pleasantly surprised. The woman (Adrianna) said she never turns a child away. She had never worked with a child with DS before, but was eager to learn. She set up a trial class and asked me to email as much info about DS to her as I could before the trial class.

I emailed her links to various DS sites and had my daughter’s PT email her as well. When I showed up for the class, there was another little girl with DS (mosaic form) there for a trial class as well.

The two girls went to the dance room as the other mother and I sat in the foyer. We were permitted to peep through a glass door covered with a lace curtain as much as we wished.

Adrianna had them practicing all sort of moves. Swaying scarves, doing things with hula hoops, stretching “like a cat,” etc.

My Donna Marie often went off to do her own thing, but Adrianna was so patient. The other little girl was a year older and followed directions well. While the girls danced, the other mother and I were able to discuss our experiences with the whole DS scene and discovered our daughters had many of the same therapists.

At the end of the class Adriana told us that they both did well and of course this is just a first class and the children are just getting used to everything etc. The other little girl will go into a group class on another day of the week. I thought my Donna Marie would be out of luck because she does not follow direction well and it is difficult to determine how much she understands, etc. (She still is very delayed in speech.)

However, the plan is that Adriana will work privately with Donna Marie for the same price as if she were in a group class! Donna Marie really seemed to enjoy the time she spent at the dance studio and Adriana was so warm and welcoming. We are looking forward to our next dance class!