Open the door. Smell the flowers. Jump over the puddle. Kick the ball. That’s the choreography. Behind it are four simple ideas: familiar actions, predictable rhythm and counting, smaller movement chunks, and enough repetition for each movement to become familiar.

These ideas grew out of more than 300 hours of dance volunteering with people with developmental disabilities. I had taught the way I learned—demonstrate, count, and repeat. But even with simpler choreography, some participants waited or needed repeated help to begin. Six weeks of general-dance records showed little overall change.

I began asking how to make joining the activity easier, not just the dance steps simpler. I connected movements to familiar actions and stories, kept the rhythm predictable, and gave participants more time to repeat each movement.

I then tested the redesigned approach with the same five participants for another six weeks. Those lessons became the foundation for Adaptive Groove.

I began with the dance I knew; I learned to begin with the world they knew.