When Sarah Hansen first came to Bonnie Schlachte's ballet studio, she jokingly called herself a “weeble-wobble,” telling her ballet teacher that when she tried to walk, she would fall. “She couldn't walk across the room without holding on to something,” recalls Schlachte. “She would immediately fall.”
Hansen was only in middle-school, but a progressive neurological disease was hindering her ability to walk, let alone do ballet. But Hansen had a tenacious spirit and desperately wanted to learn ballet. Hansen joined in weekly group classes at Schlachte's ballet studio called Ballet for all Kids, a studio that teaches children with disabilities. Soon after she began classes and private lessons, her family saw a vast improvement in her ability to move.
She worked tirelessly in the studio, focusing on what her instructor wanted from her. “At the time, her foot wouldn't fully rest on the floor,” explains Schlachte. “That's why she couldn't stand on her own, there was no support.”
Schlachte pushed her student, explaining to Hansen that her brain has neuroplasticity(可塑性) so eventually it will receive the message.
As a mom, a classically trained ballerina, and holding a degree in psychology, Bonnie Schlachte was the perfect person to push Hansen to do her best. Schlachte put herself through college with dance and theater scholarships. After graduation, she came across an opportunity with children with developmental disabilities. She fell in love and chose to focus on jobs in that field.
Years later, Schlachte found herself watching and celebrating Hansen, who at one point could barely walk, was now moving across the floor on her own two feet. “One day, her ankle dropped, and she put her whole foot on the ground,” says Schlachte. “I was crying, her mom was crying, it was a great moment.”
