Rejoice School of Ballet Empowers Dancers With Disabilities
Patricia Cross started dancing when she was a little girl, and she quickly fell in love with the exploration of different stories and feelings through movement. Through her professional work as the founder and executive director of Rejoice School of Ballet, she’s gotten to hold onto that falling-in-love feeling as an adult by sharing the art of dance with her students.
Rejoice provides high-quality ballet instruction to low-income students and students of color on a sliding scale, and the school has never been known to shy away from pushing the limits of the art form. For the past 22 years, Cross and the young dancers at Rejoice have used imaginative choreography to challenge the notion of what dance can be, embracing different cultural traditions, telling difficult stories and redirecting the spotlight toward dancers of color.
In its upcoming production of The Little Engine That Could, Rejoice plans on maintaining that m.o. of challenging the status quo — this time, by encouraging the audience to reimagine what a dancer can look like. The lead role of the Little Engine will be played by 8-year-old Lani Martinez, a dancer in a wheelchair who’s a student in Nashville Ballet’s Adaptive Dance program. In the story, the Little Engine carries toys from a toppled train car to the children of a nearby town, and Cross says the role is perfectly written for a dancer of different ability.
“There are so many obstacles for some people in our society to get to experience art like this, and it’s our whole goal to be able to expose every single person to art if that’s what they wish for,” says Cross. “The confidence that these dancers develop in being able to work on something together and make something beautiful all while learning from teachers that look like them, it’s remarkable. The role is perfect for a dancer in a wheelchair. It articulates that it doesn’t matter what situation you have in your life, you can still succeed and be a hero and be a part of something wonderful and something inspirational.”
Victoria Clerico is a faculty member at Nashville Ballet’s school, and a former member of Nashville Ballet’s NB2 dance company. She says part of Rejoice’s mission aligns well with that of the Adaptive Dance program. Through the program, Nashville Ballet aims to create opportunities for children of all abilities to experience the joy of dance while developing body awareness, coordination and balance in a traditional studio environment.
“One of our core beliefs is that everyone is a dancer,” says Clerico. “Artistic experiences should be accessible to everyone, but often there are barriers for many different reasons. We’re trying to bridge those gaps and show that artistic movement is something that everyone can be a part of.”
Clerico says that like every dancer, those in the Adaptive Dance program develop their own style through exploring different movements. Some students dance moving mainly their legs and feet, and others focus on their upper-body movements.
“Dance is such a human thing, such a pure form of expression and a way to have fun,” says Clerico. “The way each dancer moves is individual to the way they choose to express themselves, but the students using chairs maneuver the way they normally do. There’s not much need for special accommodations. At its core, this is about our dancers just getting into the music and moving in a way that feels good.”
Gerald Watson, who is a company member with Nashville Ballet and an instructor at Rejoice, says that because both organizations are so committed to inclusivity, the partnership came naturally.
“Everybody has the ability to do good work. They just need the tools to do so, and that’s what each of these programs is about,” Watson says. “From the moment I first saw Lani dance, I knew she had to be a part of this show. Just watching the way that she never slowed down or felt small or seemed self-conscious — she looked in complete bliss about being able to share herself through dance, and it reminded me that that’s what I set out to do when I was younger. To see her so happy doing what she knows and sharing it with people, that inspired me.”
Watson says Martinez will demonstrate the story’s themes of resilience, friendship and the value of hard work — all things he has seen her exhibit both in and out of rehearsals.
“Lani has such grace and determination, and she really makes the show what it is,” says Watson. “She is not trying to be like anybody else on the stage. I truly believe that everybody has a gift and something that sets them apart — something that allows a person to be able to succeed. And watching her now, you can tell she’s found hers.”
