Press

Birthday celebration becomes opportunity to help others

Published 10/09/11 HometownAnnapolis.com

Birthday Party For 12-year-old Maura DePascal of Annapolis and 9-year-old Olivia Winn of Kent Island, this year's birthday celebration was more than just an opportunity get together with friends. As good friends and dancers on the same competitive team, the girls share many of the same good friends. So this year they decided to celebrate their birthdays together.

The girls hosted a joint sleepover at Rohanna Dance Productions, the dance studio where they train. The party had a Willy Wonka theme and the studio was converted into a virtual candy land complete with a chocolate fountain and edible wallpaper. They played games, had a pajama fashion show and, of course, danced all night long.

But more importantly, Maura and Olivia each decided to add a twist to the celebration - in lieu of gifts each girl selected a charity near and dear to their hearts and asked their guests to donate items to the charity.

Maura asked for donations for the Johns Hopkins's Children's Center. Maura is very familiar with the center, having spent an extended stay at the hospital while being treated for a tumor in her spine or neuroblastoma.

"I wanted to do something for all the kids who are spending time at John Hopkins because I know what it is like and the hospital helped me a lot but it can still be hard," Maura said.

Maura's guests donated a car load full of toys, games and crafts for patients to choose as part of a BINGO game that Hopkins plays with its patients. The game is part of a program to help the young children at the hospital cope their hospital stay.

Maura and her friends at the RDP Dance studio received a letter of thanks from Patrice Brylske, John Hopkins Children's Center Director of Life and Child Development Programs. Brylske stated, "We are grateful for having received your wonderful toy donations which are helping bring smiles to the faces of children who are copy with illness and hospitalization. You have influenced the Children's Center in a very positive way."

Olivia collected donations for the Daraja Children's Choir of Africa. The Daraja Children's Choir is made up of a group of talented young people from Africa who travel through the United States each year sharing their culture and passion for life.

The monetary donations collected will be presented to the Daraja Children's Choir when it performs a free concert at Christ Church Kent Island on Route 8 in Stevensville in early Spring 2012. The funds will be used to help pay for extracurricular activities while the children of Kenya are traveling the states.

Olivia and her family are very familiar with the Daraja Children's Choir, having hosted several young students on last year's visit. "I love the friends I met last year from Kenya. They showed me pictures of their homes and they were very clean but they only have dirt floors and most of them only have one room. They are so nice and so happy that it made me realize I really have a lot of stuff. It feels good to help them out because they taught me a lot," said Olivia.

"We are really very blessed to be part of the RDP Dance group who time and again comes together to help support each other and the community. The girls' joint party and charity event is just one example," said Tammy DePascal, Maura's mother, and Colleen Winn, Olivia's mom.

For information about the Daraja Children's Choir hosting and concert, contact Christ Church Kent Island at 410-643-5921. For information about Rohanna Dance Production, visit www.rohannadance.com.

- Chris Mushinsky

Finding joy through dance

Article in The Capital - October 10, 2010

Finding joy through dance
Class geared to special needs children

Published 10/10/10 The Sunday Capital - My Time

Dance is often defined as "the art of movement," but for one group of special needs children, dance has become much more.

Tammy DePascal, long-time staff member of Rohanna Dance Productions, has watched with pride for many years as her daughter Maura took dance lessons. She could see in Maura what many of us see as we watch our child participate in activities - the joy that comes from exploring our talents, achieving new things and making friends along the way. As Tammy watched, she saw an opportunity for her older special needs daughter, Alex, and for other special needs children.

With the help of the studio's owner, Jamie Rohanna, and the studio's teachers including Kadi Wenger, Katie Jensen and Chrissy Ray, a class was specifically designed and created for children with special needs. This class is similar to all other RDP dance classes with the exceptions of combining the warm-up, conditioning, tumbling and ballet into one lesson/week rather than separate classes as well as having more than one experienced teacher instructing each class. The goal is to help students learn to explore the art of movement and rhythm while having fun with other children. All participants will have the option of performing in the 2011 dance recital.

"Laughter and love are really the key elements in this class" Wenger said, "but the children learn dance steps just like in any other dance class."

"It is amazing to see what each young dancer is capable of doing. Out of all the classes I teach in a week, I look forward to this one the most. These kids bring nothing but joy into this studio," Jensen said.

Space is still available for the special needs class which is held from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Mondays.

"I started this class thinking I was going to be the teacher. I had no idea they would end up teaching me about true greatness of spirit and the importance of putting our best foot forward in life each day," Rohanna said.

Rohanna Dance Productions studio is at 1572 Whitehall Road. For information, visit www.rohannadance.com or call 410-349-3100.

- Chris Mushinsky

Teens take first at national dance competition

02/02/2010

Teen of the Week: Teen says break-dancing makes him 'feel alive'

Published 01/22/10

By WENDI WINTERS, For The Capital

While other teens can think quickly on their feet, Xander's so over that. He can think while one ear is planted on the ground, and he's spinning on it. Turns out the 16-year-old Annapolis High School sophomore from Bay Ridge is a pretty good break-dancer. He's even break-danced in Manhattan's Times Square while on - what else? - school break.

Xander Berman, 16, a sophomore at Annapolis High School, is the current president of the David Snyder AZA Chapter of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization based at Congregation Kneseth Israel in Annapolis. When he needs an energy break, the teen enjoys break-dancing, snowboarding and tennis.

Local Dancers Participate in Redskins Halftime Show

01/10/2008