“The daughter of a professional musician and a professional dancer, Mary Verdi-Fletcher grew up with a great love of movement and music,” writes Dan Kane in Thursday’s (11/19) CantonRep.com (Canton, Ohio). “Born with spina-bifida, Verdi-Fletcher … went on to launch Dancing Wheels, a professional dance company based in Cleveland that’s now in its 35th year. ‘We’re referred to as a “physically integrated dance company,” ’ Verdi-Fletcher said of Dancing Wheels. ‘We use both stand-up and sit-down dancers.’ Of the company’s current 12 dancers, ages 20 and up, just four are in wheelchairs.… At 8 p.m. Saturday, Dancing Wheels will join the Canton Symphony Orchestra in a concert at Umstattd Performing Arts Hall. The company will perform two pieces: ‘Walls of Glass,’ danced to Mahler’s Adagietto from Symphony No. 5, and ‘Lightfall,’ set to Stephen Melillo’s ‘Lightfall’ Symphony. During ‘Walls of Glass,’ Verdi-Fletcher dances in her wheelchair.… Saturday’s performance of ‘Lightfall’ will mark the world premiere of both Melillo’s symphony and the Dancing Wheels dance piece, choreographed by Bobby Wesner of Neos Dance Theatre…. ‘It’s always exciting to perform with live musicians,’ Verdi-Fletcher said.”
Posted November 20, 2015
Pictured: Dancing Wheels performs “Walls of Glass.” Photo by Mark Horning
