Voices

Dancing into the hearts of Georgetown’s Best Buddies

March 31, 2011


Ever since I began Irish dance lessons in second grade, the month of March has always been filled with performances. Whether marching in my town’s parade or dancing at black-tie events, during the week of St. Patrick’s Day, my dance shoes almost never leave my feet.

This season was no exception. The Georgetown Irish Dancers had already booked a series of shows, including our annual performance for the incredibly enthusiastic (to say the least) crowd at the Tombs. Typically our dance performances follow the same format: turn on the music, get the audience to clap along, dance, finish, bow, and repeat. We sometimes offer an explanation of the dances as a way of connecting with the audience. Yet, despite our efforts to reach out to our viewers, I usually leave a show reflecting on how well we danced, not necessarily what kind of rapport we established with those in the stands.

A few weeks prior to St. Patrick’s Day, I got an email from the president of Georgetown’s chapter of Best Buddies, a volunteer program that helps establish friendships between Georgetown students and mentally disabled community members. Always eager to perform, we accepted the invitation and began to prepare a lineup of choreography. Though the material we chose was nothing new, the experience we had was something completely unexpected.

As I arrived with eight other dancers to the Leavey Center last Sunday afternoon, we were welcomed by a large crowd of Georgetown students and their buddies, dressed from head to toe in green. At first I was a little concerned about the performance space: rather than a platform, only a few tables had been pushed away to create our “stage,” providing a limited view of our feet and a carpeted surface that would muffle the sound of our fiberglass-tipped shoes. Yet as the nine of us crammed into the center of the space, we were met by an eruption of applause that completely eliminated my brief concern. The music started and the buddies began to clap along to the beat. As the speed of our feet increased our crowd cheered in awe. We finished our first dance to cheers of “Wow!” and “Encore!” It was just a typical routine, but I felt like a rock star on the carpet of Sellinger Lounge.

Some of the buddies were so enthused by the performance that they stood up to tap their feet along to the music. Without the barrier of a stage to separate us from our audience, my fellow dancers and I began pulling them into the center of the floor to dance with us. Before we knew it we had over twenty buddies and their Georgetown partners surrounding us, waiting to learn a traditional Irish folk dance routine. With a little quick thinking and rearranging of tables, the other dancers and I broke down the steps and taught the entire crowd.

After about 15 minutes of somewhat chaotic skipping, marching, and jumping, our interaction had transcended the dance. No longer was our exchange between entertainers and audience. Together on the same floor, the buddies and the dancers began to engage each other in conversation, learning names and discovering mutual interests. I didn’t feel like a performer or a teacher but a participant in an event of mutual understanding. Though we came from different backgrounds, the buddies and the Georgetown students shared the excitement of trying something new solely for the fun of it.

Toward the end of the party an elderly buddy named Catherine-Lee came up to me and hugged me. Before releasing me from her warm embrace she announced, “I love you.” I didn’t know quite what to say, taken aback by her uninhibited remark, but after a moment I realized that her sentiment had completely captured my emotion toward the group. To me, this simple St. Patrick’s Day party symbolized what I feel Georgetown tries to instill in its students. Our diverse group converged on a single platform to build friendships and find a common bond through the shared experience of dance.



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