Students from Burbank’s All-Abilities Dance studio take the stage
About 5,000 students from across Los Angeles County descended on the Music Center Plaza Friday morning to dance and show off their artwork as part of the Music Center’s 37th annual Very Special Arts Festival, celebrating the achievements of students with disabilities.
Among the crowd were 10 dancers from Burbank’s All-Abilities Dance, a studio established in 1981 by Zina Bethune to give people with disabilities, young and old, the opportunity to perform dance and drama.
Along with senior dance instructor Robin Olive, the students in her advanced dance class performed to the song, “You Know You Like It.”
Before the song finished, Olive and the fellow dancers called all the students’ mothers to the stage, and the moms danced with them until the last beat.
Lucy Landeros, mother of 36-year-old dancer Marcia Landeros, said she didn’t expect to join her daughter on stage.
Her daughter has danced at All-Abilities for more than 10 years.
“They’re so used to this, and the kids love it,” Landeros said. “This is the first time that we went up there and danced with them. Nobody knew it [was going to happen].”
The performance capped five weeks of rehearsals, with students practicing two hours each week, Olive said.
“Just being up on stage with them and seeing them freestyle, just makes my heart explode. I love watching them dance. I love dancing with them,” she said.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan