Dancers’ support for Great Ormond Street (From Echo)

Dancers’ support for Great Ormond Street

9:00am Tuesday 9th March 2010 in

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DANCERS who have battled with illness and serious conditions have raised almost £2,000 for the hospital that treated them.

The Mala Dance Academy, on Canvey, made Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, its charity of choice.

The fundraising was a labour of love for many of the young dancers who have been patients there.

The group’s motto is “everyone’s a little star” and the academy was set up to cater for children with debilitating conditions.

Founder Clare Beesley, 32, suffers from Crohn’s disease and was treated at Great Ormond Street when she was a child.

She said: “When I was dancing, my illness was an issue. I had all these tubes I carried around with me and I did get picked on.

“Back then you had to be perfect to be a dancer, so I wanted to create a school that would accept anybody.

“Obviously we take serious dancers, but our slogan is ‘everyone’s a little star’.”

Clare’s nine-year-old daughter Isabelle, who attends the school, is making a steady recovery after she was diagnosed with the bowel condition colitis, which is linked to her mum’s Crohn’s disease.

Clare added: “Isabelle loves to dance and it’s so pleasing to see her enjoy it and not have to deal with the stuff I had to handle as a child.”

More than 170 dancers and their families attended the Maharaja restaurant, in London Road, Benfleet, for a meal that raised £1,960 for the children’s hospital.

Event organiser and academy dancer Courtney Spellacy, 17, who has spent the past five years in and out of Great Ormond Street due to her rare condition, was delighted with the night.

She said: “It was really fantastic. Everyone had a brilliant evening. ”

Courtney, of Meppel Avenue, Canvey, was diagnosed with cyclical vomiting syndrome when she was 12.

She has suffered with problems with her digestive system ever since.

She said: “It’s very strange. I just woke up one morning and I started throwing up and I haven’t really stopped since.

“Great Ormond Street has been absolutely brilliant. It’s not like a normal hospital.

“It has teachers to help you with your school work and lots of things to do, so after a while you forget you’re in a hospital.”

Courtney is now pinning her hopes on an operation to have a pacemaker fitted to her stomach to control her condition.

Fellow dancer, six-year-old Kelly Tyler, also spent time at the world-famous hospital after a tumour the size of a golf ball was discovered in her throat last year.

The Canvey youngster underwent chemotherapy and has since made a good recovery. She now feels fighting fit.

Other members include children with conditions such as deafness and autism.

Clare added: “I’d like to think we’re a friendly, welcoming school that will accept everyone and anyone.

“When I think what our children have gone through I’m so proud of them.”

The academy, which caters for a variety of dance styles including classical, ballet, modern, tap, freestyle and musical theatre, practices in Castle View School and Lake View Hall on the site of Winter Gardens Schools, both on Canvey.

To find out more, go to the website at malaacademy.co.uk/ StartUp.php