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Tulsa Ballet program helps deaf fifth-grader | Tulsa World
In the tall mirror of a Tulsa Ballet studio, Cortney McElroy's reflection found the Wright Elementary fifth-grader keeping one eye on her slender frame as she sought grace in motion.
Yet, unlike the dozen other students in the class, 11-year-old Cortney could not hear the pianist's classical melody. Cortney has been profoundly deaf since she was a 6-week-old with the CMV virus. CMV not only stole Cortney's hearing, the sickness put her in the hospital long enough to cause muscle atrophy that left the child with bowed legs in need of splints. Originally, the 14-month-old's splints went up to her knees. They got progressively smaller until they were finally removed when she was almost 3 years old.
Cortney's mother, Tiffany Falls, recalled: "For the first couple years of her life, it was pretty intense. We were at the physical therapist and speech therapist, it seemed like, every other day. We lived in places like that."
Once the leg splints came off, Cortney's physical therapist recommended the girl enroll in gymnastics or dance classes to continue her fight against CMV's effects.
Her body was ready for the classes, but it wasn't until Cortney was almost 5 years old that she received a cochlear implant, which is basically an artificial ear.
"She can hear everything we can hear," her mother explained, "but it sounds different, it sounds computerized."
Trouble is, "half the time it doesn't work," Falls said before her daughter's ballet class. "Right now it's in the shop."
In absence of her artificial ear, Cortney relied on visual cues from her teacher, Stephanie Murrish, along with Murrish's occasional and literally hands-on guidance. If a visitor doesn't know Cortney's story, she would appear no different from her peers. And that was the case three years ago when Cortney joined Tulsa Ballet's Leaps Ahead program, which is free and open to students at the nearby Wright and Marshall elementaries, which are both considered "at-risk" schools. Wright offers a deaf-education program for children such as Cortney.
Since 2003, Leaps Ahead has given Wright and Marshall students - boys in one class, girls in another - an introduction to traditional classical ballet for 45 minutes once a week for six weeks at the Tulsa Ballet facility, according to Stacey Jenkins, Tulsa Ballet's director of education and outreach.
A study of about 170 Leaps Ahead participants revealed "amazing results," Jenkins said. The study was conducted via a partnership with the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Schusterman Center.
The results showed on average: A 28 percent improvement in the students' written test scores; almost 2-inch improvement in jump heights; 2.4 more sit-ups in a minute and 1.32 inches of improvement in flexibility.
In 2005, Tulsa Ballet established Leaps in Motion, which is a traveling version of the program for at-risk schools that includes daily 45-minute classes for two weeks. Participating Leaps in Motion elementaries for this year include Roosevelt, Grimes, Grissom, McClure and Kendall-Whittier.
Three years ago, Cortney was one of the two Leaps Ahead students chosen during her six-week program for a one-year Tulsa Ballet scholarship. Jenkins called dancers like Cortney "promising students who we think have potential in ballet."
That scholarship year, Cortney trained at the facility and earned everything she would need including clothing and season tickets to see Tulsa Ballet's main company perform. The scholarship has been extended for the past two years.
Without Leaps Ahead, Falls, who is a mother of four, said her family could not afford the ballet lessons.
Stacy Christiansen, the ballet's education programs coordinator, was Cortney's instructor during her first scholarship year.
"Really, her self-confidence did bloom," Christiansen said. "She was a very quiet and, of course, shy child when she came in. By the time the year was over, she was coming to class, and the girls would run up to her and try to talk with her, and try to do their pretend signing - I'm not sure how much they actually knew. I think it really gave her a sense of not only confidence, but that she can do anything she sets her mind to."
Thinking about how Leaps Ahead, and its scholarships, have changed her daughter's life, Falls said, "We've been very blessed."
In the tall mirror of a Tulsa Ballet studio, Cortney McElroy's reflection found the Wright Elementary fifth-grader keeping one eye on her slender frame as she sought grace in motion.
Yet, unlike the dozen other students in the class, 11-year-old Cortney could not hear the pianist's classical melody. Cortney has been profoundly deaf since she was a 6-week-old with the CMV virus. CMV not only stole Cortney's hearing, the sickness put her in the hospital long enough to cause muscle atrophy that left the child with bowed legs in need of splints. Originally, the 14-month-old's splints went up to her knees. They got progressively smaller until they were finally removed when she was almost 3 years old.
Cortney's mother, Tiffany Falls, recalled: "For the first couple years of her life, it was pretty intense. We were at the physical therapist and speech therapist, it seemed like, every other day. We lived in places like that."
Once the leg splints came off, Cortney's physical therapist recommended the girl enroll in gymnastics or dance classes to continue her fight against CMV's effects.
Her body was ready for the classes, but it wasn't until Cortney was almost 5 years old that she received a cochlear implant, which is basically an artificial ear.
"She can hear everything we can hear," her mother explained, "but it sounds different, it sounds computerized."
Trouble is, "half the time it doesn't work," Falls said before her daughter's ballet class. "Right now it's in the shop."
In absence of her artificial ear, Cortney relied on visual cues from her teacher, Stephanie Murrish, along with Murrish's occasional and literally hands-on guidance. If a visitor doesn't know Cortney's story, she would appear no different from her peers. And that was the case three years ago when Cortney joined Tulsa Ballet's Leaps Ahead program, which is free and open to students at the nearby Wright and Marshall elementaries, which are both considered "at-risk" schools. Wright offers a deaf-education program for children such as Cortney.
Since 2003, Leaps Ahead has given Wright and Marshall students - boys in one class, girls in another - an introduction to traditional classical ballet for 45 minutes once a week for six weeks at the Tulsa Ballet facility, according to Stacey Jenkins, Tulsa Ballet's director of education and outreach.
A study of about 170 Leaps Ahead participants revealed "amazing results," Jenkins said. The study was conducted via a partnership with the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Schusterman Center.
The results showed on average: A 28 percent improvement in the students' written test scores; almost 2-inch improvement in jump heights; 2.4 more sit-ups in a minute and 1.32 inches of improvement in flexibility.
In 2005, Tulsa Ballet established Leaps in Motion, which is a traveling version of the program for at-risk schools that includes daily 45-minute classes for two weeks. Participating Leaps in Motion elementaries for this year include Roosevelt, Grimes, Grissom, McClure and Kendall-Whittier.
Three years ago, Cortney was one of the two Leaps Ahead students chosen during her six-week program for a one-year Tulsa Ballet scholarship. Jenkins called dancers like Cortney "promising students who we think have potential in ballet."
That scholarship year, Cortney trained at the facility and earned everything she would need including clothing and season tickets to see Tulsa Ballet's main company perform. The scholarship has been extended for the past two years.
Without Leaps Ahead, Falls, who is a mother of four, said her family could not afford the ballet lessons.
Stacy Christiansen, the ballet's education programs coordinator, was Cortney's instructor during her first scholarship year.
"Really, her self-confidence did bloom," Christiansen said. "She was a very quiet and, of course, shy child when she came in. By the time the year was over, she was coming to class, and the girls would run up to her and try to talk with her, and try to do their pretend signing - I'm not sure how much they actually knew. I think it really gave her a sense of not only confidence, but that she can do anything she sets her mind to."
Thinking about how Leaps Ahead, and its scholarships, have changed her daughter's life, Falls said, "We've been very blessed."