DANCING FOR DANITA’S CHILDREN

Directed aid for Haiti through support focused on Danita’s Children

Website to visit:   www.danitaschildren.org

General Concept: To bring together the dance community of Central Florida to create a web of friendship and support and ultimately to raise money for the orphans in Haiti under the care of Danita’s Children.

Goals: 

• Secure sponsorships for these 100 children to provide for their future care at Danita’s Hope for Haiti Children’s Center

• Raise awareness for the programs of this organization which has an office in Central Florida but is working around the clock to provide help for Haiti’s children through service as an orphanage, a school, a church and a feeding center.

Connection:  Heather Meyer, dance teacher and missionary to Haiti, works for the organization and teaches in Central Florida.  Heather is a former student, teacher and a personal friend of Kathryn Austin, director of the Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts. Andrea Khoury and Heather Meyer teach at Turning Pointe under the direction of Bianca Khoury. Heather and Andrea have made several trips down to Haiti to help with this specific organization.  Heather will leave February 25, 2010 to begin a two year commitment to the orphanage. 

Need:  Danita has been building hope in Haiti for ten years. Seated hours from Port au Prince and just minutes from the Dominican Republic border, this organization is a perfect venue for providing help and hope for newly orphaned Haitian children in the aftermath of the earthquake that has killed tens of thousands in the country’s capital city.  Our support can be channeled into a direct support web to give the 100 new orphans that Danita will be absorbing, a home and a healthy place to recover in love and light of hope.

 Dear CDPA Families,

      Happy New Year CDPA Families and Welcome to 2010!

     Since the 2009 year went by so fast, I am seriously considering leaving my Christmas trees up all year so I don't have to redecorate as I am sure this year will fly by as well.  I am glad we are BACK TO DANCE for the spring semester and I am looking forward to preparing for our Showcase 2010 production:  JUST DANCE! Celebrating 20 years! 

     Thank you to all who participated and attended our In His Name...We Dance production at the Garden Theatre. I think you will agree that it was a great success in its mission to slow us all down and invite us to share in the heart of Christmas. Our dancers were lovely; professional and graceful and our alumni performers warm the performance with a special sense of continuity and tradition.

    The morning after Christmas, my family and I left on a flight to the Republica de Panama at 6am.  We arrived in Panama City, Panama in the afternoon and drove 6 hours to the city of David in the Chiriqui region.  This begin a great adventure for us and a special time of love and sharing with our friends, and their friends, in Panama. We stayed in the parsonage of the Iglesia de Metodista which had a few drops of running water (stories abound on this note), a small fridge and a microwave.  We were entertained at times by a large iguana who would jump down on our roof (of tin) and make lots of noise!  The first morning we left out on an hour and a half journey to church. The church in Bongo is pastored by our friend, Marcos Morales Vega.  There we worshipped in their open air church and witnessed the baptism of Marcos' adopted baby girl, Eliana by her Uncle Pablo, the Bishop of Panama. They served us a Panamanian meal afterwards and we began to meet the people of the community. Let me remind you that we speak almost no Spanish as a family.

    Monday and Tuesday mornings 30 to 40 children were brought in on the bus, most had traveled for over an hour to get there, and we danced, sang, played and colored together for about 5 hours. Then we shared in a meal, played outside and they headed home.  That does not sound like much but it is because I can not put into words here what we learned in this time of interaction.  I had no expectations going into this except that I want to develop a ministry called, "All God's Children...Gotta Dance!"  This has been on my "list of things I want to do" for over three years and this year I finally decided to get started. The first step was learning what it was about these experiences that could be useful.  My amazing daughter Caitlin was my team teacher and we shared many great moments with these beautiful children. My sons, Matthew and Ryan, were right there with us making connections through relationships in play and sport with the boys. We have been invited back next year for a three day "sleep away" experience for 60 children in Volcan. We have many ideas for how we will structure that experience and it is my hope to take a small cast of In His Name to perform as well.  The Panamanians continue to celebrate Christmas until January 9th.

     We saw gorgeous mountains with lush, tropical vegetation and visited a beautiful garden called "My Garden is Your Garden" in one of our favorite places, Boquete.  We ate coffee beans off the bush and cocoa beans out of the fruit of the tree, and celebrated New Years in traditional Panamanian style which was GREAT FUN despite how tired we thought we were! We ate our good luck bread, tamales and drank chocolate and watched fireworks for a long while in the neighborhood.  We went to an incredible beach and swam in the Pacific Ocean. We visited the Panama Canal and watched ships the size of cities traverse the locks there.  We took a long day trip through the mountains to Bocas del Toro and

saw many Kuna Indians along the way.  And in all of that, we fell in love with the children of Panama and enjoyed the kindness of a very sweet and welcoming culture of people...and yes, we did learn a little Spanish.

     I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to sharing 2010 with all of our families here!

                    Keep Dancing! 

                                                                   Ms Kathryn