Middletown Made For Manhattan October 5, 2013

Hello Friends and Happy Saturday!

Last weekend I had an opportunity to attend the Ray of Sunshine Dance Recital presented and performed by dancers from the Encore Dance Academy. To say that this was no ordinary recital would be an understatement. First of all, the recital was the Senior Class Project of Kayla Green, a dancer and student at Middletown High School. Secondly it was held to benefit and bring awareness to Autism Delaware and lastly because it was an absolutely flawless Broadway-like performance by some very talented young dancers!

For two hours the audience was treated to over thirty wonderfully choreographed dances with music from every genre and decade from the 50’s to the present. The Grand Finale performance of Grease included all of the dancers and was a colorful and exciting rendition. Costume changes accompanied each of the performances and it was obvious that they had trained long and hard and had given it their best.

Three young children affected by Autism, one of which was Kayla’s young cousin and the inspiration for the project was given an opportunity to perform on stage. It was truly heart warming to watch them, so confident in themselves and enjoying the audience’s applause. Another student who is also affected by Autism gave the Closing Remarks which was also well received by an enthusiastic crowd.  To watch these kids participate in the recital who after birth wasn’t supposed to be able to walk, further emphasized the need to support Autism Awareness in the state of Delaware.

During a brief intermission packaged snacks, soda and water was available for purchase in the lobby. A Silent Auction was also held with bidding on items such as a Wine Basket, Door Wreath, Cleaning Service, and Dance Lessons, all donated by parents of Encore Dance Academy students.  All proceeds raised from this as well as from ticket sales were donated to Autism Delaware, totaling over $2000.00.

Kudos to all the dancers from the Encore Dance Academy, I fully expect one day to see your names in lights on Broadway because you definitely were Middletown Made For Manhattan last Saturday night!

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