'Tutus and Turning Wheels' puts a new spin on dance

From the Clarion Ledger:

The jaunty sound of Dueling Banjos twang through the rehearsal studio at Belhaven as two men square off in classic high-noon style.

Big and tough Tom Burnley of Madison and the smaller, lightning quick Benji Tompkins of Winter Park, Colo., dance with the wiliness of winking cowpokes. Burnley's crutches come in handy, not only bracing his imposing frame to full advantage, but also as a percussion instrument and a prop for Tompkin's agile antics.

Dance? Crutches? Wait till they get on wheels, Burnley in a wheelchair and Tompkins on a rolling desk one.

That's the idea that Tunes, Tutus and Turning Wheels, a Saturday dance event at Belhaven College Center for the Arts, takes for a spin onstage.

The program combining dancers and dancers with disabilities is a collaboration of the USA International Ballet Competition, VSA arts of Mississippi, Methodist Rehabilitation Center, Mississippi Paralysis Association, Collage arts organization and Belhaven College. (Full Story Here)