Lindsey's Need And Andrea's Dream

By Debra Donaldson

Inspiration From the Golsrush

Could I match Lindsey’s idea of helping someone with Andrea and her dream of dancing?

I have always said that anyone can dance no matter what the obstacles, but I never thought that the choice of a piece of music would give a wheelchair-bound girl the chance to dance she’d always dreamed of. But one year, the song “Faith of the Heart,” from the movie Patch Adams, inspired a student to reach out to others through dance.

I was working with that student, Lindsey, on a solo for the recital when one day she stopped and looked at me. “ I don’t like this dance. Something is missing,” she said. Thinking she meant the steps, I asked if she would like more turns or a different leap. She laughed and said, “No, that’s not it at all!” She said she liked the choreography but felt that something else was missing. “I really want this dance to help someone, just as Patch Adams did,” Lindsey said. I immediately thought about a friend of mine, Andrea, who had told me that she would love to dance someday. She could not use her legs anymore and was in a wheelchair. Could I match Lindsey’s idea of helping someone with Andrea and her dream of dancing? I was unsure how Andrea’s parents would feel about their daughter performing onstage. But they loved the idea, and Andrea was ecstatic.

The addition of Andrea inspired us to change the dance’s concept. Lindsey wanted to include some younger students as patients, so I asked five 8- to 10-year-old girls to participate. Andrea wheeled herself in and among the dancers with great ease, and she and Lindsey were a perfect match, interacting and moving in harmony. Of course, we changed the choreography a bit to suit each of the dancers. Lindsey’s solo turns now became duets, with Lindsey turning Andrea in her wheelchair or Andrea spinning the chair herself, and Andrea whizzed across the stage in counterpoint to Lindsey’s leaps and footwork.

Lindsey’s grandmother made the costumes. The younger girls wore hospital-gown-inspired costumes, and Andrea and Lindsey were dressed identically in beautiful, flowing, white lace gowns. As we got closer to the recital date, the excitement built. When show night came, Andrea looked at me just before her entrance and said, “Don’t you ever ask me to do this again!” She was so scared, but I told her to wait and see what happened. On she went, and Lindsey and Andrea danced the most beautiful dance I have seen. Not the choreography—I am talking about a need and a dream coming together onstage and proving that dreams do come true.

Her fear forgotten, Andrea came offstage and flashed me a big smile. “When is the next show?” she asked. I don’t know if Andrea will ever have another chance to dance, but I do know this: What the two girls accomplished with this dance will always be with them.
 

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