Volunteer Spotlight - November 2010
Life has gotten a bit jazzier lately for the eight girls living in the residential program at UMCH, thanks to volunteer Holly Ronick. Holly has recently been donating her time teaching the girls classical jazz dancing.
For the past several weeks, Holly has come to campus on Saturdays to teach the girls Broadway-style dance techniques. For the first 35 minutes of her teaching, Holly really focuses on teaching the techniques and showing the girls how to combine them to create theatrical dances set to popular music. At the end of the class, the girls are free to use those techniques and just dance.
"At the end of the class, it's really a time for them to relax and just dance," Holly said. "The girls are wonderful, very enthusiastic. Some of them are very good dancers," she said.
Holly has been dancing herself for 40 years. She majored in dance at Southern Illinois University and taught dance in Benton while she was in college. Following graduation, Holly followed her dream and moved to New York where she spent 20 years dancing professionally in musicals.
"It was fun and not a day goes by that I don't think about dancing," Holly said. It's important for her to share this passion as well. "I've lived a lot of places, and I always try to find a group of youth who want to learn dance," she said.
Holly has challenged the girls to create a routine to perform in front of an audience. In mid-November, the girls will be performing for Holly and the UMCH staff.
If you have a special skill you would be interested in sharing with UMCH youth, contact Volunteer Coordinator Joan Minor at 242-1070 Ext. 240 or jminor@umchome.org.
UMCH has many more volunteer opportunities listed here.