Spirit for Dance Click Here for the Courier Page, original source, also in print. GLORIA ALEFF, Courier Correspondent | Posted: Saturday, February 11, 2006 12:00 am | (0) Comments
Youngsters slide across the dance floor during a recent session. RICK CHASE Courier Staff Photographer
INDEPENDENCE - Young pixies listen for instructions and do their best to comply.
"Put your feet in first position. Saute across the floor," Jackie Heinz says. "Lift your leg high."
She describes how the movements are supposed to look, offers encouragement and advice. The fairies in pink, white and black tutus flit around the dance studio.
Heinz rolls around the hardwood floor, gauging the progress. Her wheelchair hums quietly when it moves.
Heinz, 24, has spinal muscular atrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy.
"A condition that affects every muscle in my body," she says.
But hardly a hindrance for a person determined to lead an active life. Heinz has used a wheelchair the majority of her life. Nevertheless, two years ago she was accepted into one of the top dance programs in the country.
Heinz flew to Maine, training and performing with Axis, a professional dance company. The organization is known internationally for its artistic and educational standards and for being on the cutting edge of integrated dance for performers with and without disabilities.
"We danced eight hours a day for three weeks. I came back in the best shape I have ever been in."
Heinz was born with the disease, which is relatively common. About 1 in 6,000 babies endure its effects. Intellectual ability is normal, and often people with spinal muscular atrophy are described as unusually bright and sociable.
Her condition, however, presented obstacles early.
"In fifth grade, I had a spinal fusion to correct the curve in my spine from scoliosis," Heinz says.
She remained active in grade school sports, participating in garbage can basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring. In high school, she played in the band.
At home, she plays guitar.
"I always have music on at home. The quiet bothers me."
Heinz earned a degree in health promotion and dance from the University of Northern Iowa, where she met one of her best friends, a dance instructor.
Ranae Keane-Bamsey is director of Kinetic Energy School of Movement in Cedar Falls and Waverly. Heinz is school coordinator in Waverly and an instructor.
Keane-Bamsey appreciates her friend, even going to jail to help her out. Last year, Keane-Bamsey volunteered for the annual jail-and-bail fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
"Money is used to help families like mine," Heinz says.
Her two brothers, Josh and Jacob, also have spinal muscular atrophy.
Get moving
Keane-Bamsey was part of the dance faculty at UNI when Heinz registered for a class on weightlifting.
"I persuaded her to go into dance," Keane-Bamsey says.
After Heinz' graduation, they teamed up at the dance studios.
"We do not value accomplishments such as trophies, accolades and awards," Keane-Bamsey says.
The value something more important, like trying.
"Not every student has Miss Jackie as a dance teacher, but every student knows her."
And like her, apparently.
"She is the most popular person in the place," Keane-Bamsey says. "Her charismatic and warm presence is contagious. She inspires and empowers the students in their endeavors."
Hip hop, jazz, ballet. ballroom - Heinz teaches all the moves.
"Modern dance is how your body moves in space, your relationship to your environment. Being in a wheelchair makes me very aware of my environment," she adds.
Movement classes teach students to dance with ribbons. Their instructor rolls her chair to the music.
"Let me see you dance faster," she tells a pair of sisters, Lara and Ilka Buning
"Excellent ladies" is their reward.
She teaches tap with gloves instead of shoes. Limited in her ability to raise her arms above her shoulders, Heinz modifies the art form by teaching baton, holding the stick in front of her small body.
The teacher won't allow students on the floor without proper shoes. She bends to fit versions for jazz on new students, Autumn, Holly and Julia Saul of Cedar Falls.
"I don't see myself as different. I am stubborn. I don't like the word handicapped. I teach the kids," she says.
Some of the younger dancers are curious about the controls on her chair.
"I tell them we don't play with that because it moves me."
Heinz met her husband, Jim, a teacher at Independence High School, the same year she went to Maine. They were married in July 2004.
The couple own an acreage outside Rowley where they raise Brown Swiss cattle and horses. Their farming operation is a family venture with her father, Alan Spece, and grandfather, George Spece.
Life on the farm begins early. Heinz drives her specially equipped van to Cedar Falls during the week and makes occasional trips to Waverly, the newest Kinetic school location.
"I make breakfast when Jim comes in at 6:30 a.m. and then we both take off for work," she says.
The couple recently bought what she describes as a fixer-upper house, presenting a task that consumes weekends.
"I do the low level work," she says.
Heinz maintains her priorities.
"I am first a wife. Second, a dancer."
She loves being both.
"The feet can learn the steps, but only the spirit can dance."
Contact Gloria Aleff at SBLGram@aol.com.
Youngsters slide across the dance floor during a recent session. RICK CHASE Courier Staff Photographer
INDEPENDENCE - Young pixies listen for instructions and do their best to comply.
"Put your feet in first position. Saute across the floor," Jackie Heinz says. "Lift your leg high."
She describes how the movements are supposed to look, offers encouragement and advice. The fairies in pink, white and black tutus flit around the dance studio.
Heinz rolls around the hardwood floor, gauging the progress. Her wheelchair hums quietly when it moves.
Heinz, 24, has spinal muscular atrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy.
"A condition that affects every muscle in my body," she says.
But hardly a hindrance for a person determined to lead an active life. Heinz has used a wheelchair the majority of her life. Nevertheless, two years ago she was accepted into one of the top dance programs in the country.
Heinz flew to Maine, training and performing with Axis, a professional dance company. The organization is known internationally for its artistic and educational standards and for being on the cutting edge of integrated dance for performers with and without disabilities.
"We danced eight hours a day for three weeks. I came back in the best shape I have ever been in."
Heinz was born with the disease, which is relatively common. About 1 in 6,000 babies endure its effects. Intellectual ability is normal, and often people with spinal muscular atrophy are described as unusually bright and sociable.
Her condition, however, presented obstacles early.
"In fifth grade, I had a spinal fusion to correct the curve in my spine from scoliosis," Heinz says.
She remained active in grade school sports, participating in garbage can basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring. In high school, she played in the band.
At home, she plays guitar.
"I always have music on at home. The quiet bothers me."
Heinz earned a degree in health promotion and dance from the University of Northern Iowa, where she met one of her best friends, a dance instructor.
Ranae Keane-Bamsey is director of Kinetic Energy School of Movement in Cedar Falls and Waverly. Heinz is school coordinator in Waverly and an instructor.
Keane-Bamsey appreciates her friend, even going to jail to help her out. Last year, Keane-Bamsey volunteered for the annual jail-and-bail fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
"Money is used to help families like mine," Heinz says.
Her two brothers, Josh and Jacob, also have spinal muscular atrophy.
Get moving
Keane-Bamsey was part of the dance faculty at UNI when Heinz registered for a class on weightlifting.
"I persuaded her to go into dance," Keane-Bamsey says.
After Heinz' graduation, they teamed up at the dance studios.
"We do not value accomplishments such as trophies, accolades and awards," Keane-Bamsey says.
The value something more important, like trying.
"Not every student has Miss Jackie as a dance teacher, but every student knows her."
And like her, apparently.
"She is the most popular person in the place," Keane-Bamsey says. "Her charismatic and warm presence is contagious. She inspires and empowers the students in their endeavors."
Hip hop, jazz, ballet. ballroom - Heinz teaches all the moves.
"Modern dance is how your body moves in space, your relationship to your environment. Being in a wheelchair makes me very aware of my environment," she adds.
Movement classes teach students to dance with ribbons. Their instructor rolls her chair to the music.
"Let me see you dance faster," she tells a pair of sisters, Lara and Ilka Buning
"Excellent ladies" is their reward.
She teaches tap with gloves instead of shoes. Limited in her ability to raise her arms above her shoulders, Heinz modifies the art form by teaching baton, holding the stick in front of her small body.
The teacher won't allow students on the floor without proper shoes. She bends to fit versions for jazz on new students, Autumn, Holly and Julia Saul of Cedar Falls.
"I don't see myself as different. I am stubborn. I don't like the word handicapped. I teach the kids," she says.
Some of the younger dancers are curious about the controls on her chair.
"I tell them we don't play with that because it moves me."
Heinz met her husband, Jim, a teacher at Independence High School, the same year she went to Maine. They were married in July 2004.
The couple own an acreage outside Rowley where they raise Brown Swiss cattle and horses. Their farming operation is a family venture with her father, Alan Spece, and grandfather, George Spece.
Life on the farm begins early. Heinz drives her specially equipped van to Cedar Falls during the week and makes occasional trips to Waverly, the newest Kinetic school location.
"I make breakfast when Jim comes in at 6:30 a.m. and then we both take off for work," she says.
The couple recently bought what she describes as a fixer-upper house, presenting a task that consumes weekends.
"I do the low level work," she says.
Heinz maintains her priorities.
"I am first a wife. Second, a dancer."
She loves being both.
"The feet can learn the steps, but only the spirit can dance."
Contact Gloria Aleff at SBLGram@aol.com.