LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Wednesday afternoons at Lakewood’s Whitlock Recreation Center are special days. Those are the days when the Feel the Beat Dance Company rehearses.
Feel the Beat’s dancers all bring different abilities to the dance floor, and the studio’s vibrational dance floor is for those who need a little help literally feeling the beat.
“We have classes that are taught by deaf people for deaf people,” said co-founder Julia Faliano. “Moving your body has so many benefits for your brain, your muscles, your organs.”
On this particular Wednesday, dancers are also getting to meet Gracie Woo, a dancer at the Denver School of the Arts and the founder of the nonprofit, Everybody Dance.
”I had a lot of costumes that I used for a season, and then I had no use for them anymore and I wanted to donate them to other dancers,” Gracie said about her organization’s beginnings. “I wanted to be able to give back to people who couldn't afford them, so that they could still have the opportunity to dance if they wanted to.”
Everybody Dance collects gently costumes, leotards, dresses, tutus and other dance items that may have only been used once or twice and gives them to dancers who can still get some use from them. That includes organizations like Feel the Beat.
“I just thought that it was a really cool group organization, and I wanted to see if they could benefit from the costumes that we had,” Gracie said of her choice to drop off boxes of dance clothing at Feel the Beat’s rehearsal.
- To learn what you can do to help Everybody Dance, click here
- To learn more about Feel the Beat's program's, click here
The dancers at Feel the Beat put everything they have into their performances. Thanks to the generosity of Gracie and Everybody Dance, they can now look the part without all the expense.
“It's great to be able to have that expression and be able to tell the story through dance, because it's a form of entertainment and people love to see other people dance, and I think everyone should be a part of that,” added Gracie.
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