AUBURN — Kimberly MacDonald and Linda Eberhardt-MacDonald pulled up to the Community Little Theater on Sunday for Kimberly’s 22nd dance recital with Mary Jane’s School of Dance.
The mother and daughter of Turner are easily half an hour late, but calm and collected. “God doesn’t give extra time to people with special needs,” Eberhardt-MacDonald said.
Kimberly has MSP1, a rare metabolic disorder that limits her mobility, stunts her growth and results in a degenerative eye condition. In many cases, it comes with a shortened life expectancy.
Eberhardt-MacDonald believes her daughter, who is 28, is the oldest person in the state with the disorder.
Four feet tall and full of attitude, Kimberly is not sitting on the sidelines. She’s dancing like the whole world is watching.
Known to many as “Kimmy,” she rolls into the room backstage where dancers of all ages greet her warmly.
The dancers are psyching themselves up for their routines. Tap dancers nervously tap. Costumes are tweaked. Dancers crisscross the room doing backbends and flips.
Kimberly said she hasn’t a shred of nervousness. She chats with her old friend Deanna Morency, a Mary Jane School of Dance alumni who has long since relocated to Boston but comes back every year to help out with the recital.
Amber LaFrance, 18, and Mallory Langlois, 15, are in Kimberly’s dance routine.
“Kimmy knows what she’s doing,” Lafrance said. “Sometimes Mallory and I struggle, but Kimmy’s got it.”
Dance studio owner Mary Jane Leonard choreographed their dance to a song Kimberly chose from the Broadway show “Aladdin.” Kimberly stars as Jasmine.
“She loves her Disney princesses,” Langlois said.
Kimberly’s mother has a theory about why dance is such a great fit for Kimberly.
“A lot of the people in theater are very talented and super smart,” she said. “They have to be confident and a little eccentric. They accept Kimberly with her disabilities, her uniqueness.”
Leonard has been watching Kimberly dance since she was 4 years old.
“I’ve watched Kimmy grow,” she said. “It’s enjoyable to watch anyone progress.”
Over the years, as Kimberly’s physical condition deteriorated, her dance practice was adjusted to accommodate her.
“Mary Jane started to individualize Kimmy’s instruction, as well as her performances on stage,” her mother said. “In 2005, when Kimmy was recovering from spinal surgery, they did the dance with Kimmy in a wheelchair.”
This year, after recent surgery, Kimberly is using her wheelchair again but is able to stand during the routine with the help of Mallory and Amber.
Ten minutes before their routine, Kimberly’s mother wrangles her daughter and wheelchair up a narrow staircase that leads to the stage. It’s a tight fit and chaotic.
Moments before Kimberly goes on stage, her mother thrusts a computer tablet into her hands for her daughter to unlock and set to record. She whirls around and recruits another dancer waiting in the wings to help her tape her daughter’s performance.
“You learn to ask for help,” Eberhardt-MacDonald said.
“We always buy the DVD” from the school, she said. “It keeps her going all year long. She watches the previous recitals. She will get up and dance. It gives her a reason to keep going.”
Kimberly, Amber and Mallory’s dance went off without a hitch and the crowd applauded uproariously.
“I can’t believe it, we did it,” Kimberly’s mother said as Kimberly exited the stage for the last time. “Another year done!”
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