[blindkid] Update on Musical

Kim Cunningham kim at gulfimagesphoto.com
Fri Jan 22 21:21:43 UTC 2010


Kayleigh is a very determined young lady. As for her vision - she sees nothing in one eye and has a 20 degree field of vision in the other. Her acuity in that eye is around 20/100 - it's kind of like looking through a straw in one eye. Her vision allows her to "see" some, but a very limited amount. The director ended up marking her spots on the stage with tape along with tagging certain props with various markers. The dancer who helped her with the dance steps actually moved her body into the positions she needed. She does not possess natural grace and I'm sure she's not the best dancer, but she is making it work. My husband and I have tickets to see her perform next week. I wanted to give her time so we didn't make her nervous!
I agree about parents teaching their children dance. I only wish that we would have gone that route. It might have made things a little easier for her. 
We opted to put our daughter into gymnastics when she was young. My theory was that this was a type of physical therapy. I didn't want her to appear "sick" and constantly being pulled for therapies. Kayleigh was a preemie and needed a lot of different types of therapies to get caught up. We also opted for piano lessons instead of occupational therapy. This helped her with her fine motor skills. I am not recommending that families stop therapies, but some typical activities offer just as many developmental skills. Plus they get to socialize with other children.
Kim

--- On Fri, 1/22/10, Heather <craney07 at rochester.rr.com> wrote:


From: Heather <craney07 at rochester.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Update on Musical
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Date: Friday, January 22, 2010, 9:46 AM


That is awsum.  I was a music major, and I encountered countless problems in high school with trying to participate in the musicals, and finally, I just gave up.  It wasn't worth it to me, to expend all of that stress and embarrassment to be on stage, with an unwilling dirrector and an unhelpful coriographer, when I could continue with my musical training at the Eastman School of Music, after school.  Your daughter is lucky to possess some natural grace that surpasses the navigational limitations of blindness and to have a supportive and driven parent like you.  I think it is very uimportant to get young blind children into ballet, gymnastics, etc, to help them to feel confident and graceful early on, so that when the worry of being akward and clumsy does reer it's ugly head, the child will have the pre-developed confidence and self esteme to squash it like a bug.  May I ask how much site your daughter does have?  What part she played?  I love the
 Pajama Game, especially "You with the stars in your eyes..."  Ok, going to stop singing in my kitchen.  rofl
----- Original Message ----- From: "Kim Cunningham" <kim at gulfimagesphoto.com>
To: "Blindkid" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 9:01 AM
Subject: [blindkid] Update on Musical


Good morning all,
I wanted to give you all an update on our ordeal with my daughter's participation in her high school musical. I had previously asked for suggestions in dealing with a director who wanted to remove her. Last night was their opening night performance of "The Pajama Game". My daughter was thrilled with the reaction of the audience and everything went well. While she has had a couple falls (minor scrapes) while trying to navigate scene changes and many extra hours of practice, she danced, and entered and exited the stage on opening night with perfection!
Two days ago she received the following note from the main choreographer:
"Kayleigh - I am so proud of you and all the work you have done on this show. You are an inspiration to me and all of us! Thank you, I appreciate you."
I felt so happy and proud for her. I just wanted to share the "happy side" to this story. With persistance and given a chance, our children can be successful in all they strive to do.
Regards,
Kim Cunningham
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