What Is Autistic Wings Dance Company?

Autistic Wings Dance Company is the dream of 12 years old founder, Leta Rundell. It is a studio dedicated to meeting the needs of exceptional dancers on the autism spectrum. It is a place where they can be themselves, and not have to worry about masking, or acting “neurotypical” so they “fit in” with the other kids. It’s a place where the staff have agreed to dedicate themselves to meeting the dancers where the dancers are at, and understanding there are different issues facing a dancer on the Spectrum than a neurotypical dancer. It is a place of belonging, growth, community, love, and understanding.

What If My Child Has Sensory Issues?

Autistic Wings Dance Company is creating our own version of a Dance Indiviualize Education Plan to address issues just like this. Once you have decided to enroll your child in our studio, we will schedule a meeting and discuss all of the sensory issues your child has. Where needed, we will come up with plans to help your child work through issues. However, we understand that not all sensory issues are something that needs to be overcome.

My child has issues stimming. Can we address that?

Leta understands stimming issues. Her stem is usually moving her feet like she’s tap dancing. All staff and teachers are aware that stimming is like breathing for a lot of kids. Even Level 1 Kids have stims. Our Dance Individualized Education Plan will address any stims the dancer has, just so the dance teachers know that it is a stim and not something else. We will never ask a dancer to stop stimming.

Why Does Autistic Wings Dance Company Have a Limited Schedule?

Between the physical limits of our space, therapy clinic hours, and trying to schedule classes around multiple different school districts/charter schools/online schools, we worked very hard on trying to make a schedule that we felt worked for our dancers. We feel like kids are kids. They need to have the ability to relax. They need to have a moment to breathe during the week. We decided that our recreational dance classes for kids Under 18 need to be over by 8:00PM. That leaves us with three (3) hours a day when we feel like our dancers should be awake enough to be at the studio.

Why Are There Not A Ton Of Evening Toddler and Preschool Classes?

Honestly, it goes back to the last question. We have three (3) hours a night where we feel like we can have classes for our K-12 dancers. It means we don’t have the space for a robust after work toddler and preschool classes program. However, we are hoping to expand that program to include more after work classes once we buy our own building.

What Classes Are Taught?

Autistic Wings Dance Company’s recreational program includes ballet, jazz, musical theatre, hip-hop, Creative movement classes, and more in our recrational program.

What is a “Dance Individual Education Plan”?

Uh, that’s a good question. It’s like the IEP that schools have, but for dance. Each dancer in our studio has one, from our youngest dancers to those young at heart. The Dance IEP not only helps our teachers know how to teach each student, but also helps us plan costumes, lighting and sound for recital, and even determine whether or not to ask the audience to refrain from clapping after a piece. Leta and Amanda have been all over the podcast world trying to describe the Dance IDP in depth.

I Can’t Donate Money Right Now. How Can I Help?

Help us spread the word to families who would be interested in the program. Like and follow our social media accounts. Repost our content. Subscribe to the newsletter. Cheer our dancers on as they start traveling this road. Honestly, liking, following, and reposting/sharing our content is worth more than you would ever know.