The 100 audience members, each with various physical and mental disabilities, quickly followed his example and shouted in response.
Sherman gave a few more instructions, and soon the sound of in-time stomping and chanting filled the entire room Friday morning.
‘‘They had pretty good rhythm,” Sherman said afterward. ‘‘I think they responded well.”
Step Afrika!’s performance was the kick-off to CHI’s 60th anniversary celebration, which will continue with events throughout the next year including a charity golf tournament and familypicnic. But the arts program was a fitting start to the festivities, a symbol of CHI’s instructional philosophy for the more than 1,000 disabled children and adults it serves each year.
‘‘Hands-on is the key,” said Kenneth C. Koroknay, head of business development. ‘‘You have to make them feel involved.”
CHI was founded by a group of parents in 1948 as the Montgomery County Cerebral Palsy Association. At the time, special education classes were not available in the county, said Alan C. Lovell, the organization’s chief executive officer. The agency used to be called Centers for the Handicapped Inc., but changed its name to CHI Centers Inc. in 1993.
Since its inception, CHI has grown into a nonprofit with an annual budget of more than $16 million and more than 350 employees at five centers and a number of group homes across Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. CHI provides vocational training and employment opportunities for its participants both at government agencies, local businesses and grocery and retail stores. It also offers jobs on-site; the Hillandale location on New Hampshire Avenue has a copy center where workers can copy and collate documents for businesses and local community groups, such as neighborhood newsletters, Lovell said.
The Hillandale building, originally used as an elementary school, is currently undergoing renovations scheduled for completion early next year designed to make the building look and feel more like a community center, Lovell said.
But CHI is more than just job training. It operates 29 independent, residential housing sites for adults with disabilities, including the 150-apartment Inwood House off University Boulevard. The Hillandale center is also home to a senior center, which offers activities and trips as any other senior center would, Lovell said.
And then there are the cultural activities, which ‘‘enrich the lives of people who otherwise wouldn’t experience” the arts, said Fran Abrams, director of grants and program services with the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.
The council has funded a variety of cultural events CHI since 1997, including the performance by Step Afrika!, which performs dancing known as ‘‘stepping” popularized by African-American fraternities and sororities.
The six-member troupe performed through Class Acts Arts, a local nonprofit that brings cultural programming to schools and community centers across the region. Class Acts has held 63 performances at CHI in the last decade, executive director Joan Burns said. The majority of those shows was funded by the county Arts and Humanities Council.
Burns said every artist who performs in front of a CHI audience comes away having learned and raving. ‘‘It’s one of the most joyous places to perform,” she said.
Friday morning’s 45-minute performance proved why. Whenever the dancers asked for audience participation, the crowd, some in wheelchairs, cheered and clapped. Others stood up and danced along with the performers. Young and old, no matter the disability, everyone appeared to leave wearing a smile. Some even hung around afterward to take pictures with the dancers.
‘‘Their enthusiasm for live arts makes it exciting,” said Judy Hyde, director of facility-based programs at the Hillandale location.
Hyde has been with CHI for 25 years and considers the participants part of a second family. In addition to watching CHI grow, she has watched society’s attitude toward people with disabilities evolve to the point where everyone is more comfortable around disabled people.
‘‘When [disabled people] are in the community, there is less concern about their presence,” she said. ‘‘It’s a remarkable change.”
Hyde’s favorite part of her job is the people, who she called caring and eager to connect.
‘‘That’s why we all keep coming back,” she said. ‘‘That’s why we stay.”
To learn more
For more informationabout CHI Centers Inc.,call 301-445-3350 or visit www.chicenters.org.
