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In October of 2008, Kitty Lunn will celebrate 50 years of dancing.  She’s done it all: modern, classical ballet, partner, solo, group, starting a dance company, teaching, learning.

When Kitty was in the Washington Ballet at age 15, she agonized over her body.  Many professional dancers stand at 5’8” or taller, while Kitty’s head barely scraped the tape measure at 5’2”.  Agnes De Mille was an artist and resident where Kitty studied.  After Ms. De Mille would teach, she would sit the girls around her and talk to her adoring students.  When Kitty expressed her vertical limitations and spoke in measures of bone implants, Ms. De Mille stopped her, took Kitty’s face in her hands and said, “Kitty dear, you have to learn to dance in the body you’re in.” 

Fast forward the tape 20 years.  Kitty Lunn, while rehearsing for her first Broadway show, fell on a set of icy steps and broke her back.  Kitty didn’t know that she wouldn’t walk again until three years and five spinal surgeries later. Finally, after living in the hospital for three years, Kitty was released, only to face her next challenge: one-on-one, in-home physical therapy for five hours a day, five days a week, for five years.  

Shaw Bronner, Kitty’s physical therapist, was also a dancer.  “Because she was a dancer, we had a common vocabulary.”  Kitty was very motivated to work hard in physical therapy and Shaw was equally creative.  Never focusing on a list of can or can nots, Shaw modified her dance routines to help Kitty succeed, giving Kitty the ability and confidence to accomplish not just her dance moves, but also the activities of daily living.  From her dancer’s perspective, Kitty’s wheelchair became a tool to enhance her abilities and gain independence, rather than a negative reflection of what she couldn’t do.  “When I was able to go get the mail by myself, I knew I’d be able to eventually get outside.  It was like a light bulb went off and I knew, I can do this.”