Long-time New Visions Dance Project Instructor Tracy Penfield created a special class for Chelsea High School student Jennifer Jacques. She is 17 years old and has Cerebral Palsy. She is a wheel chair user. She had expressed an interest in dance so Tracy invited some of Jennifer’s fellow students to work with her and Jennifer on a special project. There were 7 girls and 2 boys. As Tracy said:

“It was touching to see them work and play with Jen, for whom they held deep compassion, without being condescending. Jennifer’s grandfather (she lives with her grandparents) told us the first day to remember that ‘Jen is NOT FRAGILE!’ We took this to heart and really experimented with kinesthetic opportunities for Jen in her chair. Jen used a manual chair for each class as that gave us more mobility. One of her favorite activities entailed us standing in a large circle, sending Jen flying, on her own, across to one another. Each student had to do something creative in our ‘catching’ and ‘sending’ of her. She loved the speed and the sense of moving without anyone holding on.

Our final day was memorable. Lili, a young girl with developmental disabilities, joined us and she took the chair and went flying around, making fabulous motions to the music that was playing. The High School students watched in amazement and some of them joined in. The program was deeply appreciated by Jen, her family and the other students.