Naperville dance showcase fights heart disease in teens

Area dancers will bust a move or two Saturday at Naperville North High School to raise money for heart screenings and honor a friend who would have done the same for them.

The seventh annual Kathryn Bender Dance Showcase will feature performances from a Naperville North quartet and 12 area dance groups performing a variety of styles.

“The participation has been great every year and we’re reaching the point, after seven years, where groups are asking to be involved rather than waiting for an invitation,” said Kathryn’s sister, Elizabeth Bender, who organizes the show. “That means a lot to us.”

The event begins with raffles and live jazz music at 6:30 p.m. and dance performances at 7:30 p.m. in the Naperville North High School Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. Proceeds go to the Midwest Heart Foundation’s “Young Hearts 4 Life” program, which provides free EKG screenings to high school students and has screened more than 65,000 students since the program started in 2006.

To date, the Kathryn Bender Memorial Foundation has purchased four portable EKG machines that are used in the program. If this year’s event is as well attended as years past, organizers hope to purchase two more machines.

Kathryn, a lifelong dancer, died unexpectedly in 2005 while backstage at a dance show. She was a Naperville North senior at the time.

Twelve groups will take the stage in her honor representing a variety of dance styles, including ballet, contemporary, tap, hip-hop and jazz. Performers include the B-discovered Dance Company, College Dance, Design Dance Company, Dream Contemporary Dance, Extensions Dance Company, Hip Hop ConnXion, MADD Rhythms Tap Company, Naperville Park District and Steps Dance Center. Orchesis groups from Metea Valley, Neuqua Valley and Naperville North high schools also will perform.

Elizabeth Bender said it’s fitting that so many teen dancers participate year after year, considering many of them have been tested by machines purchased by the foundation.

“A lot of these kids have had screenings done on them so this directly affects them,” she said. “It’s a great way to have kids understand where money is going and put two and two together.”

Bender said moving the event to Naperville North this year also makes the event slightly more intimate considering her sister was a senior there when she died.

“It’s a good connection to have it at North because they do the screenings there now,” Bender said. “Kathryn never had the test because she died in 2005 and they started in 2006. So it’s a good feeling knowing we’re now catching as many of these kids as we can.”

In addition to the showcase the foundation also holds the Kathryn Bender Memorial Foundation 5K Run/Walk in the fall to benefit the Midwest Heart Foundation and to fund college scholarships to area students.