Duo swinging past hardships while bringing out smiles
by Matt Skates, nw news editor

     “We pretty much don’t do aerial moves any more,” Rusty Frank said from behind an eight-pound neck stabilizer adorned with palm trees on the top and a sticker with the World War II slogan “We can do it” on the breast plate of the apparatus.
     Frank and her partner, Peter Flahiff, make up a dance exposition group called Swing Shift that appeared on NW Campus last week.
     The duo teaches dances from the 1920s and ’30s as well as gives lectures on the history and evolution of certain dances.
     Strangely enough, when the group opens up the floor to questions, no one asks anything about Frank’s injury or headgear, not because they don’t dare, but because they don’t seem to care.
     “I think they’re more interested in the dance,” Flahiff said.
     Frank was practicing aerial maneuvers, or moves that involve releasing one dance partner high in the air, with Flahiff when a false move landed her on her head, breaking her neck in five places and causing severe damage to her cervical cord.
     “Almost anytime you do moves like this, there is always the risk of injury, and it’s bound to happen at some point,” Flahiff told about Frank’s experience.
     He told about Frank’s quick answer after their mishap.
     “The first words out of her mouth, fresh out of the ambulance, were ‘you know this is not your fault right?’” Flahiff said.
     At first, no one was sure Frank would be able to dance again.
     “We just thank God we were practicing on grass. Had we been on a stage surface, her injuries would have killed her,” he added.
     She has since gone on to continue her professional dancing career touring and teaching all around the world with Flahiff.
     Frank has also written a dance history book called Taps and Tunes.
     The group has an amazing chemistry that seems to transcend the injury.
     They deliver a wittier version of vaudeville performance, even poking fun at their own predicaments.
     During one of the dance segments, in which the two are moving simultaneously, Flahiff does a move that involves the twisting of his head. Meanwhile, Frank just looks at the crowd, smiles and gives a shrug, alluding to her inability to twist her neck.
     The crowd begins to clap as the duo continues their routine, Frank then continues dancing, inciting laughter from the audience.
     “There are cup is half full people and there are cup is half empty people, but our cup is totally full always,” Frank said.
     Linda Quinn, assistant professor of physical education and dance, brought the group to TCC after she saw them at a workshop.
     Swing Shift is currently choreographing and performing in Follow the Dream, a dance recital that will be held at the Bass Hall Monday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m.
     The show will feature over 150 dancers, musicians and actors from all four TCC campuses.
     The production also is unique in that it combines both able bodied and handicapped dancers to portray themes and stories in music and dance. The program was moved to the Bass Hall because interest in the program has grown.
     Tickets are available through Star Ticket outlets and range from $6-$15.
     “Some people ask, ‘How can you dance?’ and I say, ‘How could I not?’” Frank said.