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FAFA Dance Company kicks off annual service project, benefitting The Healing Place

FAFA students dancing

FLORENCE, Ala. — The Florence Academy of Fine Arts (FAFA) Dance Company kicked off its annual dance service project Tuesday morning at Florence High School. FAFA Dance Director Matthew Kiel said this is the eighth year for the project, which aims to raise funds and awareness for a specific charity.

 

This year, FAFA Dance is supporting The Healing Place, a nonprofit organization that helps children cope with grief and loss. According to its mission statement, “The Healing Place is committed to offering support to grieving children and their families in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance in order to promote a sense of well-being and productivity in its participants.”

 

It’s a cause that resonates with FAFA dancer Lucy Chenault, who suggested choosing The Healing Place as this year’s charity. Chenault said when her sister was in 4th grade, The Healing Place visited her school after the death of her grandmother. Chenault said while Kiel was brainstorming which charity to choose, she was reminded of how The Healing Place helped her sister and, in doing so, helped start this year’s dance service project on the right foot.

Lucy Chenault

Kiel said he always tries to choose a charity that is personal to the dancers.

 

“We try to keep it in a connection within the kids because the result that you get—the final dance—is choreographed by the kids doing research upon the project that we’re working on,” Kiel explained.

Matthew Kiel

Kiel said that before-and-after testimonials from Healing Place clients inspired the choreography for the kickoff performance. He added that the performance is a continual piece that will represent FAFA Dance not only for the service project but also at the Alabama Dance Festival, National Dance Festival, and more throughout the school year.

 

As the dance director, Kiel said the students finding meaning in developing a project like this is a testament to educational dance, unlike their normal studio dance atmosphere. He added that it inspires freshman dancers to look up to their upperclassman peers.

 

“Because we encourage creation, and everybody’s body moves differently,” Kiel said. “To see the result of that culmination, along with different techniques that they’ve learned throughout their dance at the high school, it gets better and better every year.”

 

Healing Place Executive Director Karen Grisham said it’s encouraging to the organization to see the students giving back.

 

“For these students to learn at such an early age the importance of engaging with their community and supporting those agencies that they may benefit from one day ... it’s really a great feeling,” Grisham said.

Karen Grisham

Grisham added that teachers like Kiel educating his dancers on the services that the Healing Place provides and then incorporating them into a performance is just another innovative way the organization’s message is being spread to those who may one day need assistance.

 

The dance service project will end on November 8. To donate, click here.

For photos from the kickoff performance, click here.

By Jeremy Jackson
jejackson@florencek12.org
October 28, 2024