For the Young Disabled, Studying Dance Can...

For the Young Disabled, Studying Dance Can Be a Saving Grace

In the dance “The Rose,” the rosebud struggles to reveal a full blossom, as its petals slowly unfold.

Fourteen-year-old Sarah Anderson, who will perform “The Rose” Sunday, knows the struggle of blossoming. Since birth she has suffered with osteogenesis imperfecta, a condition in which her bones are easily fractured.

Although the disease prevents Anderson from walking, it has not stopped her from dancing. “The Rose” will be part of “Michael Roberts: Patterns in Music,” to be presented Sunday at the Pierce College Performance Arts Center by members of Bethune Theatredanse.

“I want to show people that people in wheelchairs can dance,” said Anderson, an eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga. Her performance will represent Dance Outreach, in which she has been involved for the past six years: an educational program conducted by Bethune Theatredanse that teaches dance to disabled children, with performance as a goal.

Anderson also will be among the Dance Outreach students who will perform at the White House in June, and proceeds from Sunday’s concert will help finance that trip.

“Dancing can be scary, but it makes me feel good. It makes me forget all my problems--at least for the moment. I have to concentrate on what to do next,” Anderson said. She dances by moving her upper body.

Other dances to be performed by Bethune on Sunday will be excerpts from “Galileo, Jupiter and Apollo,” a contemporary ballet choreographed by Zina Bethune, founder and artistic director of Dance Outreach and Bethune Theatredanse; “Patterns,” performed in part by an actress who reads a poem; and “Magic Dancer,” which tells the story of a magician who brings a mannequin to life, with performances by several young children.

Bethune, whose dance company is known for incorporating multimedia special effects, views the concert as another opportunity for what she calls “collaborative art”--a blending of various creative and artistic expressions.

A former soloist with the New York City Ballet, Bethune introduced young Anderson to dance. Like her protege, Bethune has suffered from several physical ailments--scoliosis, a curvature of the spine; lymphedema, a lymph gland disease that causes swelling of the legs; and dysplastic hips, which ultimately forced her to have two hip-replacement surgeries.

“I had years of pain,” Bethune said. “Dancing saved my life--the passion, the art form and the obsession. I may well have been a cripple if it wasn’t for my dancing. Most people are crippled by these medical problems.”

But if there is one thing that Bethune hopes Dance Outreach will instill in Anderson--and the 600 other disabled children in California who are in the program--it is the idea of “making all possibilities possible.”

“Most people underestimate their potential,” she said. “Through their participation in Dance Outreach, many children exceed what they’ve been told they can do. So if we see potential as this vast open space, it becomes unlimited. Discovering your potential means you keep going forward.”

“Michael Roberts: Patterns in Music” will be presented at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Pierce College Performance Arts Center, 6201 Winnetka Avenue, Woodland Hills. Tickets from $8 to $15. For information , call (818) 719-6473 or 719-6474.