Determined to Dance!
GiGi’s Dance Teen – May’s Best of All
In this Month’s Best of All highlight we are not just featuring one of our participants but a whole program. GiGi’s Dance Teen was held on Monday nights from April 8th to May 13th. The class came about when 3 members of the Benilde St. Margaret High School Dance Team approached us about volunteering at GiGi’s Playhouse Twin Cities as a part of their Discipleship Class. These dancers performed at our second annual Ava’s Dance Party last October. We were so excited to have them as Program Leads for our 5 teen participants who LOVE to dance!
These talented Program Leads developed a dance routine that was age and ability appropriate. Individuals with Down syndrome are often born with low muscle tone and with that in mind, our leads picked warmups, stretches, and dance moves that were fun but purposeful. They also created 2 videos for our participants. One without the music focusing on just the moves and one with the music. Our participants worked on the dance at home in between sessions which facilitated independence and the extra practice built their confidence.
The 5 teens who loved to dance, put in a alot of effort. Some of our dancers were ready to rock the stage from the first night of practice and some moved to the beat of their own drum. They had fun learning the steps to the dance but also putting their own spin on it as they were in charge of their own moves during the freestyle portion of the performance. Our dancers shined during the final performance with signature dance moves like the dab and the worm, some grabbed members of the audience to join the fun and one even rocked the dance floor in a private solo performance after the main event.
We are so proud of all of our dancers who gave it their “Best of All” in our Spring Session of GiGi’s Dance Teen. A special thank you to Lauren, Molly, and Ellie who lead the program!
See the full dance performance below!
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