Hong Kong dance academy provides confidence-boosting arts workshops to neurodiverse students, with support from Operation Santa Claus
- Starwave Dancing Academy, partners with Love 21 Foundation, to empower six students with autism, Down’s syndrome and offer some quality time with their parents
- OSC-sponsored arts partner also connects 12 underprivileged children with traditional dance culture of China’s many ethnic groups
Starwave Dancing Academy hosted a special dance workshop for students with Down’s syndrome or autism — together with their parents — as part of a collaboration with a local charity, with sponsorship from Operation Santa Claus (OSC).
“Some students were shy at first, but they were also tempted to try something new with their parents’ company,” said Dera Hung So-fong, an educational supervisor at Starwave, who ran the two-session workshop in November.
The classes had included coordination, balance, music appreciation and movement, offering six students and their mums and dads a chance to learn essential skills for dancers, Hung said.
All participants came from the Love 21 Foundation, a local charity committed to empowering people with chromosomal, autistic or neurodiverse conditions.
Both Down’s syndrome and autism are conditions that can result in social and communication impairments. Those with the former may also experience delayed growth, as well as physical and psychological disabilities.
Love 21 is also a beneficiary of OSC, an annual fundraiser that has been co-organised by the South China Morning Post and public broadcaster RTHK since 1988.
