KOTA Territory NewsChildren First: Rapid City dance class brings together all ages

Children First: Rapid City dance class brings together all ages

A community dance class is bringing people of all ages and abilities together and is now also receiving national recognition.

Andrea Schaefer, along with Rapid City's Heather Pickering have been chosen by the ANCOR Foundation to receive the 2011 National Community Builder Award, which recognizes outstanding initiatives for people with disabilities.

Schaefer is the owner of Barefoot Dance Studio and Outright Dance Theatre, a new mixed-ability dance company in Rapid City. Pickering is a writer, actor, director and teacher. The two were nominated for the award by Black Hills Workshop because of their efforts to include people with disabilities in the Rapid City theatre and dance scene through several major productions.

Schaefer's dance class at Barefoot Studio invites absolutely anybody of any ability, physically, mentally, or otherwise to join. Schaefer used to teach dance classes at the Black Hills Workshop, but this year, she decided to try something new.

"I know it's really important for them to get out and do things in the community, like any other community member would, which is why I started this class in the first place," says Schaefer.

The dance class combines students from the workshop with students from her studio, creating a mixed ability modern dance class.

"It opens us up to a larger vocabulary of movement to make people who are in wheelchairs, make it a little bit more accessible for them," Schaefer says.

Her former student, Shad Bebout, now helps teach the class.

"This year I decided to ask him to be my assistant teacher and he was doing such a good job that I asked him to start choreographing," says Schaefer.

Schaefer says the class teaches the students to accept each other and lend a helping hand.

"The little moments that aren't choreographed and that aren't expected. When somebody gets something we've been working on for a long time, that haven't been clear and all of a sudden light bulbs go off. There are a lot of light bulb moments - they're very inspiring and emotional sometimes, awesome," says Schaefer.

The students are working to prepare a performance for Barefoot Studio's annual recital.