A night of photos and dance for a good cause

By Graciela Chahin

ROME, March 3 -- On Friday, John Cabot University held a show called “Arcobaleno di Danza e Fotografia” ("Rainbow of Dance and Photography") to benefit the Italian Parkinson's Association, raising funds and raising awareness for dance therapy.

Francesca Maruffi began the evening with a reading entitled “Voci Del Silenzio” (Voices of Silence). Maruffi described how silence is “the voice of an unexplored world.” People's words are “a rainbow of sounds, thoughts, emotions, and a rainbow of infinite colors in a sky of quite words,” she said.

Then different dance routines were choreographed by Giovanna Ricci and Monia Schietroma. The dancers were from two dance schools, Latin Style and Rhythm Tap. They danced merengue, salsa, tap, and jazz among others.

 

Between dance routines three Windows movie presentations were shown with photographs by JCU's own Barbara Mayer. The photographs were taken in Cambodia, England, Hawaii, Canada, Italy and Cambodia. Each presentation had a different theme and photographic style.

The first was called “The Long Road”. Different images of doorways, roads and windows were captured in most cases in the foreground to emphasize the subject behind. The second was called “If Trees Could Speak”. Trees were photographed at different angles in black and white, and color. “Forgotten Dreams” was the title of the last slide shown. Here, people from different cultures and landscapes were shown in vibrant colors.

At the end, the president of the Italian Parkinson's Association, Claudio Passalacqua, said that Parkinson's disease has many detrimental effects. A person with the disease can experience uncontrollable tremors and muscle rigidity. For this reason, dance therapy can help patients improve mobility and flexibility.

The money raised during this event would go to funding the dance therapy program. For more information about how to make a donation the phone number is 06-30207280 and the fax is 06.30312568. The office is also located at Via Ostiense 108, Roma.