Everybody is a star in this show.
Children with special needs will share the spotlight with firefighters and professional performers in the 14th annual “Christmas Spectacular” at Everett Civic Auditorium. The variety show, Dec. 12 and 13, is packed with singing, dancing and drama by local and national talent.
The proceeds support free dance classes at the Dorothy Jayne Studio for children with special needs.
The studio is owned by the show’s sponsors, Everett neurosurgeon Dr. Sanford Wright Jr., and his wife, Olga Foraponova-Wright, a Russian-born champion ballroom dancer. It is named in honor of Wright’s mom, Dorothy Jayne, a champion of the arts.
The stylish ballroom studio on Bond Street near the waterfront is a contrast to the unfinished basement with creaky stairs where Dorothy Jayne taught hundreds of Everett baby boomer kids to dance.
As for Wright, well, he never learned to dance. “I was too self-conscious,” he said.
Dancing isn’t for everybody — neither is becoming a neurosurgeon — but this venue in his mother’s name ensures anyone with an interest has a place to learn.
Foraponova-Wright runs the busy studio, which attracts acclaimed instructors and exhibitions in many forms of dance. The couple’s two daughters, 6 and 12, are following in their mother’s footsteps.
The studio’s special needs program began in 2012, inspired by Jocelin Meadows, an 11-year-old Everett girl whose movement is impaired by brain damage sustained as a baby.
When the couple learned Jocelin wanted to dance in their annual Christmas show, they opened their studio to give her lessons. It led to a dance program for children with special needs. “We gave them a chance to be part of our group,” Foraponova-Wright said.
This is the third year Jocelin has a starring role in the show.
“I love it,” she said, flashing the wide smile that is featured on dance programs and websites.
This year, she’ll be dancing with Justin Glanville, a firefighter/EMT with Snohomish County Fire District 22.
The show puts first responders on stage, many for the first time.
“I’ve never danced before,” Glanville said. “I’m learning. It’s amazing. She shows me up most of the time.”
Jocelin agreed, but praised her partner. “He is doing good,” she said.
Jocelin’s mother, Barbara Meadows, has seen a change in her daughter.
“It gives her something where she doesn’t feel like she’s an outcast,” Meadows said. “That’s really important for these kids to feel like they fit in because in a lot of places they don’t. Jocelin used to tell me, ‘Why don’t people like me? Why don’t I have any friends?’ We’d go to the park and kids would ask her if she was stupid and why she was the way she was. Here is an outlet where she can be who she is and she gets praised for it.”
The special needs dance program continues to grow and attract new students.
Sylvia Stevenson is among the parents from the Down Syndrome Association of Snohomish County grateful for the dance classes.
Her daughter Noelle, 15, took ballet and tap as a little girl but quit after several years. “After a time, they’re ranked by abilities,” Stevenson said. “She was getting too big to be with the little ones and so we quit doing that, because we don’t want our kids to stand out like a sore thumb.”
During a recent dance lesson, Cathy Moore watched as her son, Anthony, 16, twisted and twirled.
“He’s pretty rhythmic,” she said. “Any exercise is a bonus. He’s pretty active, my kiddo, but anything to get him up and moving. We are thankful they provide this for our kids. They studied the best way to teach them according to their abilities.”
Wright hopes it leaves a lasting impact on the dancers.
“In my mom’s basement, in these shabby conditions, she made a difference in people’s lives,” Wright said. “If you were to watch those dance classes in my mom’s basement as you watch the classes here you wouldn’t necessarily think that lifelong memories are being made. But they are. These lessons count.”
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
If you go
The Christmas Spectacular is 7 p.m. Dec. 12 and 13, Everett Civic Auditorium, 2415 Colby Ave. Tickets: Donation of $15 plus 5 non-perishable food items.
Doors open at 6 p.m. For more information, go to www.dorothyjaynestudio.com or www.brownpapertickets.com/event/908882.
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