Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Troupe's motions mend body, soul

A group with disabled members shows audiences that the dance is not just for "perfect people."

By JENNIFER STEWART
Published August 11, 2005

	[Times photo: Theresa Blackwell]
	Robin Mahaffey of Oldsmar shares the glee of daughter Lauren Piccolo, 4, as Lauren tries on dangling earrings and a necklace at ART2O. Mahaffey's mother, Janice Rider, is the owner of the new art and gift gallery in the Park Avenue Plaza at 4022 Tampa Road.

TAMPA - Ray Carpenter never used to make plans for Sept. 12.

On that date in 1983, a car crash on a rain-soaked road in North Carolina damaged his spinal cord and confined him to a wheelchair.

So a few years ago, when he called to find out about a dance group he wanted to join, he didn't get any further than the date of the next rehearsal: Sept. 12.

Carpenter wasn't there, because it was before he, as he puts it, stopped focusing on what he had lost and started doing something fun when that date rolled around.

It took him two years to muster up the courage to try to dance - in the chair, with paralyzed legs and partially paralyzed hands.

"And now, they can't keep me away," the 39-year-old Tampa resident said.

Carpenter performs with M.A.D. Theatre of Tampa's Asher Dance Eclectic, a company with 14 able-bodied and wheelchair dancers. Six of them will make their debut with Asher in west Pasco this weekend, performing at the New Port Richey Public Library on Saturday.

"I think people are amazed that people in wheelchairs can do some sort of dance, Carpenter said. "I know I was at first."

Elizabeth Edelson founded Musical Acting and Dance, or M.A.D., of Tampa in 1999, and she was inspired to create Asher, a subcompany, after watching a performance by the mixed abilities company Dancing Wheels in Atlanta.

Edelson, who has a master's degree in dance therapy, named Asher after her son and a tribe in Israel. "I wanted this particular dance company to bring happiness to its audiences," she said.

During the hourlong event at the New Port Richey library, the company will perform six different pieces, which are like individual stories told through movement that the Asher co-directors choreograph. The production also be will educational and include audience interaction.

"We tend to do a lot of lecture demonstrations, so we can show people what the company is like," said co-artistic director Merry Lynn Morris. "It's also to show people that (dancing) is not something that's just for perfect people. It's for everyone."

The kinds of dance the company performs are as diverse as the dancers themselves. The genres range from jazz to musical theater. "In my choreography, it's kind of a mixture," said Morris, who holds a master's degree in fine arts.

The troop is, above all, versatile.

While rehearsing a piece entitled Rumor, Carpenter needed to to make circular motions with his chair and his body. "Even if you just did it with the head or the rib cage, that would be fine," Morris told him.

But circling in the wheelchair proved trickier, since Carpenter also had to hold the metaphorical rumor, a long piece of silver fabric, which, as he turned, got caught in the chair's wheels. "We've had hair caught in wheelchairs before. That's the challenge," said Morris, who is also a dance instructor at the University of South Florida.

Not all dancers with disabilities are in wheelchairs. A woman who uses a cane and a walker to help her get around dances with the Clearwater-based group Revolutions, which was founded by Asher dancer Amie Fishinger.

As with Asher's other experienced able-bodied performers, Fishinger expects the very best from all the dancers.

For her, that can mean offering advice during rehearsals.

"When you're going from one movement concept to another, mesh them," she told Carpenter. "And keep your head up. You've had it down, and it's kind of beautiful because it looks like an internal fulfillment thing. But . . ."

Fishinger and others think the groups are gaining popularity. "I think people are starting to realize the physical, therapeutic advantages of dance, be they able-bodied or disabled," she said.

Michelle Caputo, 48, the other wheelchair dancer who will perform in west Pasco, remembers the limited options available to her when her spinal cord was injured more than 20 years ago. "Back then, in the dark ages, they would say, "Oh, you can play wheelchair basketball or sit at a computer,' and I said "No, those don't interest me.' "

Caputo, who lives in Dunedin, holds a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling. She says the key to success for those with such an injury is continuing with activities that gave them joy before the accident or developing new, fulfilling pursuits.

Carpenter certainly has found some. A resource manager and systems administrator for the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, he has been waterskiing and skydiving since his car accident.

In fact, a skydiving injury earlier this year set him back a bit. While skydiving in tandem with a partner, he hurt his right leg. And because he couldn't feel it, he performed in three more dance productions. "Then, it broke all the way," said Carpenter, who still wears a brace on the leg.

For him, the benefits of performing with Asher Dance are immeasurable.

"I'm out doing things and being creative, socializing a lot more, and I've gotten to travel around to parts of Florida I never knew existed," Carpenter said.

"It's kind of a whole new life for me."

Jennifer Stewart can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6231. Her e-mail address is jstewart@sptimes.com

Asher Dance Eclectic will perform at 3 p.m. Saturday at the New Port Richey library, 5939 Main St. Admission is free. For information on the group, visit www.madtheatre.com and click on Asher Dance Eclectic, or call 813 786-6291.

Here are a few other opportunities for mixed abilities dance in the area:

Revolutions Dance in Clearwater is actively seeking members and performance groups . Call Amie Fishinger at (813) 727-4104cq.

The Center Stage Theater and Dance Academy, 5201 U.S. 19 in New Port Richey, will soon offer a new adaptive dance class for youth and adults. The class, which will be held on Friday nights, will cover ballet, jazz and mainstream dancing. Call (727) 815-0100.

Elizabeth Edelson will teach a six-week mixed abilities class staring Sept. 7 at Florida Arts School in Tampa. The cost is $60. Call her at (813) 786-6291 for details.

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 00:43:15]