Lindsey and Stefan Barth had watched their daughter Penelope, almost 7, take dance classes before. But nothing quite like this. On Sunday, August 23, Penelope stepped into the new adaptive dance harness at Kansas City Ballet School’s South Campus at Meadowbrook, and for the first time, she moved through the studio upright, supported, and entirely her own.
“It was amazing,” Lindsey said, watching Penelope in the harness and the other children dancing around her. “Everyone is different, but they’re still able to do it.” At one point, she and Stefan took turns dancing with Penelope while she was in the harness, two generations of movement in one small studio. Penelope will begin Adaptive Dance classes at the South Campus this fall, but Sunday was her first glimpse of what that will feel like.
A Partnership Years in the Making
The occasion was a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the official launch of the adaptive harness system, a partnership between Kansas City Ballet School and Variety KC, The Children’s Charity of Greater Kansas City. The system, installed in 2025, gives children with physical disabilities the support they need to experience movement, build strength and balance, and participate in dance in ways that may not have been possible before. Following the ceremony, families were invited to try individual sessions in the harness, led by Kansas City Ballet School, Britain Development, and Variety KC instructors.
Penelope wasn’t the only child discovering something new that day. Four-year-old Yara Bass could hardly wait for her turn, her mother Mickaela said, practically vibrating with anticipation before she finally got into the harness and began exploring movement on her own. Ten-year-old Mira Crump, who has taken Adaptive Dance classes at Kansas City Ballet School’s Bolender Center for two sessions, moved with such comfort in the harness that other parents watching assumed she’d done it before. Her mother Nicole admitted she was nervous watching, until Mira’s smile made clear there was nothing to worry about.
Trained for this Moment
Helping guide participating children through the experience was Erin Muenks, a member of the Kansas City Ballet School faculty and its Adaptive Dance liaison. Erin has spent the past year training alongside the team at Britain Development to learn the harness system’s safe operation and instruction, building on years of experience teaching both ballet and early childhood special education.
“Once the student felt comfortable and supported in the harness system, you could see it through their movement,” Erin said. “Watching each student express themselves through dance and exploratory movement, while being independent and fully supported, was so impactful. Giving dancers of all abilities the opportunity to fall in love with my favorite art form is such a gift.”
A Vision for What’s Possible
For Kansas City Ballet School leadership, the day represented something larger than a single ceremony. Marc Harrell, CEO and Chief Inclusion Officer of Variety KC, framed the partnership in terms of past, present, and future. For generations, he said, the arts have given people a way to tell their stories, but not everyone was given the same opportunity to be part of that story. “Today, we change that,” he said, describing the harness system as a chance to move beyond simply opening the door, toward building something that expands what’s possible within the art form itself. His hope for the future: a child who doesn’t grow up believing ballet isn’t for someone like them, but simply grows up believing, “I’m a dancer.”
Oliver Till, School Director of Kansas City Ballet School, echoed that sense of belonging, noting that the harness system isn’t an accommodation but part of what it means to dance at the South Campus. Taryn Ouellette, principal of the South Campus, pointed to the collaboration that made the day possible, among Kansas City Ballet School, Variety KC, and the Britain Development team, and credited the individual attention each dancer received from all three as central to the day’s success.
By the time the last family had taken their turn in the harness, the studio at South Campus had become something more than a room with new equipment in it. It was a place where a handful of children got to experience movement freely, some for the very first time, surrounded by family, teachers, and a community that made it possible.
See video highlights from the ribbon cutting ceremony and student demonstrations.
Learn more about Kansas City Ballet’s Adaptive Dance classes.
Header image: Mira Crump revels in her range of motion while in the new adaptive dance harness at Kansas City Ballet. Photo by Haley Photography.
