If you’re at the studio on a weekend morning, it’s likely you’ve seen some of our most special classes taking place. Every Saturday, three classes of Darby’s Dancers come together with their Big Sisters to dance, learn, and build lasting relationships.
Darby’s Dancers
Darby’s Dancers is a national program created by a visionary woman named Valerie Jones. She created the program to honor her daughter, Darby, who loved to dance. The mission of Darby’s Dancers is to bring the joy of the performing arts to as many children and young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities as possible. We are proud to have our own chapter of Darby’s Dancers at Liberty Dance Center.
All of our teen helpers whom we call Big Sisters are paired with a special needs dance student every week. Some of our students are nonverbal and use sign language to communicate. Last Saturday, Miss Lori met with our teens at 9am to begin learning sign language. These special ladies volunteer their time every week to be a Big Sister and in addition, they come in half an hour early once a month for our group meeting.
We used a sign language kit and took turns teaching each other words that would be most relevant for dance class. While the girls were practicing, Miss Lori stepped out to talk to some of the parents and asked about some of the phrases they use with their dancers. During our classes, we immediately started implementing some of our newly learned sign language.
Good Things Take Time
Was it perfect? Definitely not. But were we making a concerted effort to improve our skills to better serve our students? Absolutely. The happy energy in the room was palpable that day. Students whom we used our sign language with lit up when we communicated with them. Students who weren’t used to communicating non-verbally enjoyed learning to sign to talk with their friends. It was a beautiful experience that made me so proud as their instructor.
These kinds of things are what this year is all about. Good things take time. Our sign language skills are a work in progress. As time goes by and we become more practiced they will improve. In the meantime, we are enjoying the journey and still reaping plenty of good things from the seeds we sow.
