15-year-old amputee shines on stage for her dancing, not her disability
By Linda Dahlstrom
MSNBC.com Health editor
MSNBC
Updated: 3:40 p.m. ET Sept. 20, 2006
It was just a tiny misstep during a dance class routine. But it was enough to cause Nathalie Calderon’s right foot to spin backward 180 degrees.
“My teacher nearly fainted,” said Nathalie.
But the determined Central Florida girl just asked for a screwdriver — and with a few twists, her foot was again righted.
Nathalie, who was born without the lower part of a tibia in her right leg, wears a prosthetic, something she hadn’t bothered to mention to her dance instructor.
Now 15, Nathalie has moved on to another instructor, Georgio Fagan of Georgio’s American Dance Centre in Lake Mary, Fla., where she’s part of the senior company. She’s won three scholarships this year for her dancing, has earned the respect of her peers and the adoration of audiences when she performs hip hop, tap and ballet.
‘I want to dance’
She did harbor a dream though.
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