Maryland Youth Ballet’s Music & Motion program provides unique dance classes for children with physical and developmental disabilities. In our one-of-a-kind, custom designed and installed equipment, children have the opportunity to experience the joy of dance movement with the aid of an overhead track system. This system suspends them in a vest harness giving them the freedom to move without a wheelchair or walker. Each class is conducted by a dance teacher with the assistance of two physical therapists, a live accompanist, and MYB student volunteers for a very special experience.

Music & Motion Leadership

Rebecca Leonard, Lead Therapist for Music & Motion, has been a part of the program since its inception. Ms. Leonard created and directed Early Intervention Associates, a private pediatric physical therapy practice, for 38 years and has worked in pediatric settings at Children’s Hospital, MA; the NICU in Cabell-Huntington Hospital, WV; and Georgetown Child Development and Early Intervention, MD. Ms. Leonard received her transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions in 2008, became Pediatric Board certified in 2009 and recertified in 2017 in pediatrics by the APTA, and received her PhD in Pediatric Science in 2020.

Milagros Lopez Loli, Lead Teacher for Music & Motion, began dancing at the age of three in Lima, Peru. She won many National and International Peruvian Folk Dance Championships, had the honor of dancing at the historic Peru/Ecuador peace treaty signing in1998, and made a TED TALK for TEDxLima (2018) about dancing Marinera Norteña. Ms. Lopez Loli’s second daughter was born with Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome). This experience opened her mind and heart in amazing ways and led her to study and obtain the following certificates from the American Council on Exercise (ACE): Dance Group Fitness Instructor, Group Fitness Instructor for Population with Intellectual Disabilities, and Group Fitness Instructor for kids and Youth Population.