Does College MT Tolerate Physical Injuries/Handicaps?

College Majors Musical Theater Majors
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<p>I was at dance class tonight and my hip was acting up so I had to sit out for a couple of the excersizes, mainly warm-ups. And then I started wondering whether that would be a big hinderance in my grades in dance classes in college.</p>

<p>I mean, I don’t have terrible injuries. I have chronic tendonitis in my left knee and I injured my left hip in a motorcycle accident. The tendonitis leaves my knee rather weak and my when my muscles loosen, the muscle around the ball-and-socket joint in my left hip loosens and literally rotates my whole leg outwards. They’re both permanent injuries, but otherwise I’m alright.</p>

<p>Like I said, it’s mainly stretching the legs out far and stuff that requires bending the knees with most of the pressure on the left leg. Do you think that dance professors will let this slide since I can’t help it?</p>

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<p>Robert,</p>

<p>Right after my D finished her 8 BFA auditions three years ago, she was in a very serious car crash in which she was very injured and landed in intensive care and eventually had surgery and other complications and so forth. She miraculously survived and recovered in the six months up to the first day of her BFA program and even received some of her acceptances in the hospital, including the school she is now attending. </p>

<p>ONE of her injuries was an acetabular fracture. She has five metal screws in her hip now. My D is a lifelong dancer who danced about 13 hours a week at the time of her accident and was in various dance repertory troupes. When I saw her in the ER, not only was I terrified of her survival but was thinking, once I heard the injuries, how she’d ever dance again. That summer, about six weeks after she started to walk on her own, she was Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde and I have a photo of a kick line with her leg high up in the air above her head and we gave it to the surgeon for his display. It was like a miracle to see her on stage again. </p>

<p>She was ready to dance when she got to school but it wasn’t easy. While she could dance, she definitely didn’t feel in her first year that she was up to her own standard of dancing. She wasn’t but at least she was dancing. She told her professors of her injury. Besides the injury, she also was out of dancing for six months before school started and so even not dancing for that amount of time is also a set back, on top of the pain. Did they understand? Not entirely. She really worked hard but she knew she wasn’t at her own norm. But of course, you should always discuss injuries with dance instructors. After freshman year, she felt much better in dance and about herself as a dancer, but it wasn’t so easy that first year, even though I think it was amazing she was dancing in six months after the injuries. </p>

<p>You can only do so much but it does take work when you have an injury and to keep in shape and build up the strength. You certainly would discuss it with a teacher. But I can tell you that an injury doesn’t mean you can’t dance. My D has taken a lot of dance at Tisch (they study three dance disciplines per semester). I used to kid her that she has something in common with Chita Rivera because Chita also has screws in her hip from injuries sustained in a car accident and my D also has played three Chita Rivera roles so far (Anita in West Side Story, Rose in Bye Bye Birdie, and Lilian La Fleur in Nine) and if Chita can do it (what an inspiration), she can too (she should only have 10% of the success that Chita did). </p>

<p>And while your post speaks of fairly minor injuries, I want to take this opportunity to share about one of my D’s best friends at Tisch/CAP21 since you do use the word “handicap” in your subject heading, if I may. Her close pal in CAP21 is confined to a wheel chair and paralyzed from the waist down from injuries sustained by being hit by a drunk driver when she was a child. This girl is an amazing amazing talent as a MT performer. What a voice and actress. She is in all the dance classes but just does what she can with her upper body. I am extremely thrilled that CAP21 accepted this student and hope other BFA programs do the same. This young woman has had much success in casting at Tisch (including recently in their mainstage musical), is in the award winning NYU N’Harmonics, and has been cast in other shows in NYC and a pretty well known professional summer stock theater as well. I even think she may have been asked very recently to continue a role she did in NYC last summer as that show I think is going to off Broadway. I am so ecstatic that she really has a chance to make it in this field and that Tisch and other theater companies have chosen to accept as well as cast her. I am very encouraged. She is very talented. So…if she can do it, anyone can!</p>

<p>Oh, and one more example…my D had a director of a musical she was in one summer at her theater camp. This guy was amazing. He also choreographed all the numerous dance numbers including the original opening to 42nd Street (tap) and demonstrated all of it. He has won an Emmy for Choreography for the Miss America Pageant and he has been on Broadway in a musical that involved dance. He lost both of his legs as a young child and has two prosthetic legs.</p>

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<p>Soozievt – what an inspirational post! I’ll never again whine about achy knees or a stiff neck.</p>

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<p>at UArts, dance teachers are pretty understanding…if someone has an injury that is forcing them to miss tons of dance classes, they are encouraged to withdraw from the class, and then in a semester or year to come, will take twice as many dance classes to make up for it…obviously, it’s not ideal, but if you have to, you have to.</p>

<p>in terms of sitting out, again, they try to be understanding, but it is the student’s responsibility to make up the dance classes they have missed by taking another class because attendance is really important and can impact your grade.</p>

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<p>His name is David Connelly. He has done some clinics at our high school for show choir and poms. There is no one else who can even begin to approach his inspiration with the kids. They are all moved, no matter what their situation is by his tenacity and passion.</p>

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<p>Wow, Teri, I had no idea you knew David Connelly and I guess the theater world is a small one! </p>

<p>Back when my D was 12, and at Stagedoor Manor, they brought David in for one time only as a guest director for one of their musical productions (they put on 13 shows every three week session). I am pretty certain that David created this particular musical himself. It was called Another Openin’ Another Show and consisted of the opening production numbers for approx. 40 Broadway musicals and was an incredible show. Most of the cast was 14-18 and my D lucked out to be put in this cast at age 12 and they said they had stacked the cast for David’s show and when I think of where some of these kids who are older than my D are now, many have made it. There were many solos, small group numbers and cast numbers depending on the opening song for various musicals. I recall that my D had to do “Maybe” from Annie because she was the youngest. But for example, there were highly choreographed numbers like the opening to Chorus Line and the opening to 42nd Street and David not only directed but was the choreographer. When I met him, I would have had no idea that he had two prosthetic legs. He was amazing. And he has danced on Broadway which is so cool (and I think my D’s MT friend in the wheelchair is also going to make it). </p>

<p>David was and is an amazing inspiration as to what he has accomplished given his trials and tribulations. When my D returned from that summer, she was in 8th grade and was taking a college writing course long distance and one of her many essays focused on David Connelly and I really had wished he could have seen the effect he had on kids through her writing but at age 13, she would not let me ever send it to him. Come to think of it, one of the many essays she wrote for college apps, also refers to David Connelly as an influence but not related to him not having legs but more about a talk he gave to the cast right before their show opened and I won’t get into the details of what he said and what she wrote about but it had to do with why she does theater. So, even three years later (which is when she was applying to college around her 16th birthday), David’s influence continued to impact her and her “message” in her essays, and again, in this instance, the message was irregardless of David’s personal physical condition but more to do with words that had inspired her to this day. I wish I could tell him. His story and his inner person are truly wonderful and inspirational. I’m glad your children may have worked with David as well. (it’s amazing how he taught the original 42nd Street opening tap number and demonstrated it! and there were some on the cast with no prior tap training but all were in that number, although kids who were tappers, as my D is, were in front, but still)</p>

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<p>soozievt - once you’ve worked with him, you never forget it. When he visited our school, the local papers would always do a big write up on him; and of course, the school newspaper would, too.</p>