The nation’s first professional wheelchair dancer, Cleveland native Mary Verdi-Fletcher has opened doors for thousands of artists with and without disabilities for the past three decades. This pioneer in physically integrated dance will share her powerful personal story and inspiring dance at Parma Community General Hospital’s 21st Annual Community Prayer Breakfast in “Roses from Above: Celebrating the Spirit of Dance.” The event takes place on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 7 a.m. at St. Michael’s Woodside in Broadview Heights.

Mary Verdi-Fletcher is living proof that following one’s passion can lead to an extraordinary life. Born with spina bifida and dancing from her wheelchair since the age of 12, Ms. Verdi-Fletcher is the founder of the Cleveland-based Dancing Wheels Company & School, the nation’s first physically integrated dance company now celebrating its 30th year. From meeting the Pope as a child to dancing her way through a life-threatening medical condition, Ms. Verdi-Fletcher has never acknowledged physical or mental hurdles. She has kept dancing through it all, and will enliven the audience at this year’s Prayer Breakfast with a performance combining the skills of both dancers with and without wheelchairs. 

Through more than three decades of performing and teaching dance, Ms. Verdi-Fletcher and the Dancing Wheels Company have reawakened the imagination of more than 4.5 million people. The Dancing Wheels Company travels 12 months of the year and have performed in concert halls from New York to Brussels and from Guatemala to Poland. Ms. Verdi-Fletcher, an Emmy Award winner, and her company have been featured on CNN and in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, Dance Magazine and Chronicles of Courage, a book by Jean Kennedy Smith and George Plimpton. The Dancing Wheels Company has won numerous awards, including the 2006 Northern Ohio Live Special Achievement Award, the 1998 Governor’s Award for Outstanding Outreach in Ohio and the 1997 National Rehabilitation Achievement Award.

Reserved seats are $20 per person. To reserve a seat or a table of 10, call 440-743-4280 or email Peggy Farris at mfarris@parmahospital.org. Checks can be made out to Parma Hospital Prayer Breakfast and mailed to Community Prayer Breakfast, 7007 Powers Blvd., Parma, Ohio 44129.