N.Y.-based troupe of disabled, non-disabled dancers to hold class, workshop
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It's not unusual for Billy Hartung's student dancers at the Center for Theater Arts in Mt. Lebanon to fret over the frustrations of everyday life: car problems, a bad score on a test, difficulty performing a pirouette.
They are the day-to-day nuisances everyone experiences. On Thursday, Mr. Hartung, the executive director of the center, plans to introduce his students to people who haven't let much larger frustrations get in the way of their accomplishments.
Performers from the New York City-based Heidi Latsky Dance Company, a group made of both able-bodied and disabled dancers, will conduct a class and workshop for Mr. Hartung's students, as well as students in classes at Mt. Lebanon High School.
The group is in Pittsburgh this week in advance of a Saturday night performance of "GIMP" at the Downtown August Wilson Center for African American Culture. The project, presented by the FISA Foundation and Pittsburgh Dance Council, will exhibit three dancers with disabilities and three without who will dance together in a "stereotype-shattering performance," Mr. Hartung said.
"They are not going to show us their limitations, they are going to embrace their possibilities," he said.
And on Thursday evening, Mr. Hartung's students will get a chance to converse with the dancers at a special class.
The FISA Foundation, an organization that provides grants to support women, girls and people with disabilities in Western Pennsylvania, is involved with the group's visit to Pittsburgh and offered to bring some of the dancers to Mr. Hartung's class.
"I am so grateful to the FISA Foundation for sharing them with our students here, because we agree that we shouldn't look at life through the lens of a disability or an ability."
It should be a powerful message for Mr. Hartung's students at the center, which was founded in 1981 to offer professional performing arts classes for all levels of children and teens in the Pittsburgh area.
It will be a chance for the teenagers to spend an evening with dancers who are "changing views and preconceived notions," Mr. Hartung said, and a reminder to students that they should focus on what they are able to do, rather than dwelling on what they are unable to do.
"I think my students will recognize that the arts can enhance your life, can transcend boundaries that you may be facing, and it can be a constant reminder of the triumph of the human spirit."
Members of the public can watch the Heidi Latsky Dance Company perform "GIMP" at 8 p.m. Saturday at the August Wilson Center Downtown.
Tickets are $15 at www.pgharts.org or 412-456-6666.
First Published October 13, 2011 12:00 am
