DOING WHAT YOU CAN'T DO WITHOUT

Five dancers from Italy gave students a primer in dance and their passion for it Tuesday at Clippard Elementary School.

The five members of the Dance Theatre Ensemble from Varese, Italy, will be seen in the production of "Carol's Dream" this weekend at Academic Auditorium. The ensemble director and creator of "Carol's Dream" is Dana Goodin Vanoni, a native of Cape Girardeau.

With her were Rosella Anselmi, Michela Carbone, Lina Turconi and Angelo Sinicco Scali, all members of the Italian dance ensemble.

Seated at the front of Amy Grammer's second-grade class, Jared Ritter squirmed a bit when Goodin Vanoni identified him to the rest of his class as the production's Tiny Tim.

The students wanted to see him walk, and his pretend limp drew applause even without the help of a crutch.

The dancers' ages Carbone is 22, everyone else is in their 30s interested the students, and they wondered how Anselmi and Sinicco Scali could possibly play the small wraiths Ignorance and Want since they aren't children. They will act, Goodin Vanoni said.

One of the students said KFVS News Director Mike Beecher, who plays Scrooge, "must really be mean."

"He's only mean in the scene," Goodin Vanoni assured them.

Later before classes of third- and fourth-graders in the gym, members of the ensemble performed a comedic piece dressed in clown costumes and danced on a park bench to a John Mayall rock n' roll tune.

Sinicco Scali lifted some of the girls in the audience in a demonstration of classical ballet moves.

He is a former competitive skier who didn't begin dancing until he was 20. Male dancers can begin later than females as long as they are athletic in the first place, Goodin Vanoni says.

All the women began much younger at 10 or before. Goodin Vanoni began dancing when she was 4.

Though her ensemble is a professional company, all the members have other jobs. Anselmi is an accountant and Sinicco Scali is a fitness instructor and choreographer. Turconi, who plays the young Scrooge's fianc, Belle, is a travel agent. Carbone teaches dance at Goodin Vanoni's school. This is the first trip to America for each of them.

Turconi said a passion for dancing keeps her involved. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Its the magic of the stage itself," said Sinicco Scali.

"You can't do without it," say Goodin Vanoni.