More than 100 dancers with physical disabilities took to the stage at the Colden Auditorium at Queens College on May 7, taking the audience on a colorful and exciting “Road Trip” through America presented by Dancing Dreams.
The dancers between the ages of 3 and 21 “visited” famous places like Hawaii, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Route 66 and, of course, Broadway, fulfilling their dreams of being the stars in a full-scale musical production.
The “Divas,” dressed to the nines, performed to the tunes of Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Senior dancer Elizabeth Kessler danced to the song “Rainbow Connection,” sung by Leah Zelaya, who recently had a dancing role in a Jennifer Lopez movie, moving the audience to tears.
Dancing Dreams, a local nonprofit, is the brainchild of Joann Ferrara, a pediatric physical therapist from Bayside. One day, one of her patients, then 4-year-old Veronica Siaba, who has cerebral palsy, was in her office wearing a tiara and tutu. Ferrara commented that Veronica looked like a ballerina, and Veronica responded, “I wished I could be a dancer, but nobody wants me.”
Not having any of it and without giving it a second thought, Ferrara promptly walked into the waiting room, declaring to Veronica’s mother that she was going to start a dance program for kids with physical disabilities, “never thinking, what am I doing? How am I doing this? No logistics,” Ferrara said.
She started in the back room of her office with five young girls, and the program has grown from five to more than 130 dancers who attend weekly dance classes in Manhattan, Queens or Long Island.
For Ferrara, it is all about the dancers enjoying themselves and being proud of their accomplishments.
“We are not looking for the perfect plié,” Ferrara said. “We are looking for them to enjoy themselves. The other thing that makes me so happy is seeing them on stage and see how excited and happy they are to be the stars.”
Each…
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