Close up under the parachute Students in two classes at Garden City Middle School are sharpening their skills this spring through movement and music thanks to The Andréa Rizzo Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in memory of a young Special Education teacher and lifelong dancer.

The Foundation is distributing a $10,000 grant from The Ronald McDonald House Charities of the New York Tri-State Area (RMHC-NYTSA) among local groups, including the Garden City School District, to bring an expressive movement program known as Dréa's Dream to youngsters who are most likely to benefit.

"We are so excited about all of the worthwhile programs that we are able to fund this year," said Gerald McCoy, RMHC President of the New York Tri-State Area. "It's wonderful to partner with not-for-profit organizations working to better the community and to support programs that benefit children."

Currently offered at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cander Center, Dréa's Dream is designed to promote body awareness, sensory integration, self expression, and social connection through music and movement in children with cancer or other special needs. The sessions at the Middle School are led by Christina Devereaux, MA, ADTR, a dance/movement therapist registered by the American Dance Therapy Association. Ms. Devereaux's leads activities that help youngsters define healthy physical boundaries, effectively channel their feelings, and strengthen motor and cognitive skills.

The group under the parachute "The Foundation sees this gift of dance as a way of giving back to the community for its ongoing support since the Foundation's inception in 2002," Susan Rizzo Vincent, Andréa's mother and president of the Foundation, said.

Margaret Berger, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the New York Tri-State area, attended the expressive movement sessions that "kicked-off" the program at the Middle School, along with Assistant Principal Susan Lee. Both said they were impressed by the many areas that can be explored through expressive movement, including hand motor strength and practice following directions. "The students were so responsive, and their teachers felt they learned so much in terms of instructional strategies," Ms. Lee said.

Christina with a scarf Andréa Rizzo's dream was to bring dance therapy and expressive movement to children with cancer or other special needs, as she herself had been cured of cancer as a child at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Andréa wanted to share with others in similar situations the positive impact that dance had on her life. Her promising life was cut short, however, on May 19, 2002, when she was killed by a drunk driver as she returned home from a dance performance at the Broadway Dance Center.

Andréa had begun her graduate studies in dance therapy at NYU. She was 24 years old at the time of her death. "Dréa's Dream" lives on through the work of the foundation.

The Andréa Rizzo Foundation has been featured in Woman's Day magazine and on WABC-TV Eyewitness News in NYC and LA. The American Dance Therapy Association awarded the Foundation's President with the Outstanding Achievement Award 2006. It is the only non-profit organization in the country whose sole mission is to fund dance therapy/expressive movement for children under the direction of dance therapists that are registered by the American Dance Therapy Association. For more information, contact DreasDream@aol.com or www.DreasDream.org.