Dance showcase to honor memory of Naperville girl
Kathryn Bender loved to dance.
She started at age 4 and for the next 13 years learned all she could about tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop and ballet, a discipline she also taught younger students at STEPS Dance Center in Aurora.
She was waiting in the wings during a dance recital at Waubonsie Valley High School in 2005 when she died unexpectedly at age 17.
Now, for the third consecutive year, her sister and brother, Elizabeth and Nicholas, have organized a fundraising evening of dance in memory of their sister, who was a senior at Naperville North when she passed away.
The latest Kathryn Bender Memorial Dance Showcase will feature at least 12 groups performing tonight on the McAninch Arts Center stage at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.
"We started out with the intention of doing it annually," said Elizabeth Bender. "We're just making it grow."
Last year, about 450 people attended the show, raising between $7,000 and $8,000. This year, she said, she hopes to fill the 800-seat auditorium.
Performers will include students from the STEPS Dance Center, Orchesis groups from Naperville North; Waubonsie Valley and Neuqua Valley high schools; and dancers from the School of Performing Arts, SoleUnique, Dance 2XS University of Illinois, Extensions Dance Company, Sole Dance Academy, DuPage Dance Team, Inside Out Dance Company and Hip-Hop Connxion.
Proceeds from the showcase will help pay for medical research, scholarships and a dance outreach program, Elizabeth Bender said. And $2 from each ticket will go the Midwest Heart Foundation's "Young Hearts 4 Life" program.
The program screens young adults for risk factors connected to sudden cardiac death.
"We're trying to promote awareness of sudden death syndrome," Elizabeth Bender said.
In addition to the dance showcase, the nonprofit Kathryn Bender Memorial Foundation also presents an annual foot race and sells cookbooks as a fundraiser for the organization.
The showcase will be preceded by a 6 p.m. raffle preview. Drawings for baskets of merchandise donated by local businesses will be held after intermission.
If you go
What: Third annual Kathryn Bender Memorial Dance Showcase
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: College of DuPage's McAninch Arts Center, Fawell and Park boulevards, Glen Ellyn
Tickets: $15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors