NY Daily News: Their Dance Card Filled up in Red Hook

NY DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
by Ben Chapman

THEIR DANCE CARD FILLED UP IN RED HOOK

In her pink leotard and bare feet, 6-year-old Lailah Bellahcyne can spin like a top and slither like a snake. The Red Hook girl’s graceful dancing is all the more impressive because she has a nerve disorder that interferes with her muscle control. “I feel free when I dance,” said Lailah. “I feel happy.” It’s hard work, but the youngster finishes each lesson at Cora Dance studio in Red Hook with a big smile.

She’s not the only one.

Since opening 18 months ago, the tiny non-profit dance school on Richards Street has exploded in popularity. Cora Dance studio now enrolls about 60 typical and special-needs children on its pay-what-you-can pricing system.

Most students live in the neighborhood and pay only a fractions of the school’s tuition of about $300 for 18 one hour classes.

“Our family could never afford it if we had to pay full price,” said Lailah’s mom, Lydia Bellahcyne, who struggles to support five kids on her husband’s income as a taxi driver. The lessons Lailah takes three times each week are even improving her ability to walk and climb stairs, her mother said.

Cora Dance studio founder Shannon Hummel set up the school for neighborhood kids like Lailah who couldn’t otherwise pay for dance lessons. “Every child should have access to dance, no matter how much money their family has,” said Hummel, 39, who lives in Red Hook and has been a dance teacher and choreographer for two decades.

Now her growing dance school is becoming cramped in its tiny studio in a red brick warehouse. The cramped room can only fit 10 dancers at a time, which means wait lists for the most popular classes.

So Hummel has a plan to expand.

She’s got her on a nearby studio that’s twice the size of her current digs, but the rent is more than twice as high. To grow into the bigger space by the end of the year, Hummel needs to raise about $100,000 – a difficult feat for an operation that’s funded by donations and staffed mainly by volunteers.

“But we’re determined to do it,” said Hummel. “We’ll find a way.”

Cora studio is hosting fund-raising classes this weekend and a gala in May. To learn more, visit www.coradance.org or call (718) 858-2520.