Dancing the night away
Naperville girls take the stage at Disney World
It's the Year of a Million Dreams at Walt Disney World, and one dream came true for a group from Naperville at the Florida theme park this month.
A group of 13 local dancers, aged 9 to 17, performed on the Galaxy Stage on Aug. 4 at the park's Magic Kingdom. The Karen Blonn Dance Ensemble Disney Orlando Tour 2007 was coordinated by Downers Grove dance teacher Karen Blonn and a team of dedicated parents.
(Beck Diefenbach / Staff photographer)
The Karen Blonn Dance Ensemble Disney Orlando Tour 2007 took 13 girls to Walt Disney World to participate in the Florida theme park's Disney Magic Music Days. The girls, all from Naperville and who range in age from 9 to 17, are:
• Bethany DiGiovanni
• Lindsay Gloor
• Stephanie Hotz
• Miriam Kotacka
• Gretchen Larson
• Christine Munro
• Katie Munro
• Krista Pyrcioch
• Halle Stallworth
• Taylor Stallworth
• Becky Wolfe
• Dani Wolfe
• Samee Wolfe.
"It really was like a dream come true to see the girls dancing onstage and see their moms crying," Blonn said.
The six-day tour was part of Disney World's year-round Disney Magic Music Days program. More than 1,000 instrumental, choral and dance youth groups participate in the program each year, said Christine DeMichael, Disney youth group programs marketing manager.
The girls, all from Naperville, danced together last summer at the Naperville Park District under Blonn's instruction. Blonn, 53, who has taught dance in the area for about 25 years and taken five groups to the Disney program, said she could tell "this group needed something special."
That "something special" was a 21-minute dance performance set to songs from musicals including "Hairspray" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."
"I was so proud of them. They all had these wonderful smiles on their faces," Michelle Wolfe said.
Wolfe's three daughters - Samee, 17; Becky, 14, and Dani, 10 - were part of the ensemble.
The girls were also given VIP tickets to a performance of "Beauty and the Beast" and awarded a Mousecar, Disney's equivalent of an Oscar. They met Disney dancers backstage - including Blonn's daughter Catie Caicco, who took part in Blonn's first Disney Magic Music Days tour - and participated in their own Disney Dancin' workshop.
Becky Wolfe, a student at SS Peter & Paul School who has been dancing since she was about 3 years old, said being a Disney dancer for a day was fun, even if it was much harder than it looked.
But Blonn said the best part of the trip was seeing her students work hard and do their best.
"It was interesting to watch them grow, develop, bond, get overwhelmed, get over it," she said. "Each time I bring a group down, there's at least one girl in the group that gets motivated, inspired."
Contact Emily McFarlan at emcfarlan@scn1.com or 630-416-5196.