Made up of emotions, moods and expressions galore, needing gross and fine motor activities, the Magic Garden provided ample scope for creative movements. Beautiful fairies, flowers and butterflies, trees and bushes, and the breeze and rain- all had a role to play in this story where a plain looking butterfly's wishes are granted, as the fairies transform her wings into stunningly beautiful ones. But alas, in the forest where she lives with other butterflies, her small body is unable to bear the weight of its new wings in the strong breeze and rain and wishes they were small again!

Drama, dance, music and movement are known to be beneficial for people with disabilities and for enhancing their abilities and self confidence. The Magic Garden was another attempt of SAMADHAN to create awareness about children with special needs. It was to emphasise that given the opportunity and training children with mental handicap can perf'orm as well as their counterparts without disabilities. The children who took part in this magical extravaganza were a mixed group with a wide range of disabilities including mental retardation, cerebral palsy, speech/ hearing impairments as well as slow learners. In the age group of 6-23 years, the 35 children selected had varying abilities and posed a tremendous challenge.

Bringing them together to form one cohesive group, able to follow directions, and respond to music and movement took several months of painstaking work – both for the children as well as for the teachers.

When I started planning out the different characters, sequences, and who would play what part, I was unprepared for the task ahead of me, inspite of the fact that I have worked with children with special needs. It was only when the actual rehearsals started did I realise what lay ahead of me. Some of the children had no knowledge ot' direction, had poor eye hand co-ordination, nospatialconcept, eitherpersonal or general and little awareness of body parts. The teachers played a major role in the production. As the children were familiar with them, it become easy to communicate and execute directions. Magic Garden Occasionally over the years the children had participated in dance and drama on stage. (Carvinal of Animals in the 1980s to Tales from the Panchatantra at the World Congress on Mental Retardation in 1994). Music for the Magic Garden was based on classical ragas (tunes), as on other occasions when western music and the folk dance foim -CHAU were used (Carnival of Animals). SAMADHAN had also organised a national workshop in collahoration with the British Council and conducted by Dr. Sue Jennings, a pioneer in drama and movement therapy. 

Step by step we moved – from listening to music to followingdirections. 1t took a whole month for the children to turn, move their arms- right or left etc. Facial expressions were taught and repeated several times – in front of the mirror and facing each other. Dit'f'erent musical instruments Lo create different moods were used and followed perfect.ly by the children After two months of practice, rehearsal in progress. Dance therapist Sonali guiding the Children the children were finally ready to go on stage. The concert was way beyond our expectations performed to perfection. The Magic Garden was more than just a fairy tale performed on stage. It proved to us beyond a shadow of' doubt that disabled children can he taught to enhance their abilities through creative actions such as drama, music and movement. Such activities provide an environment of joy, enthusiasm and the spirit of participation, conducive to their development and well-being. And above all, self-esteem and a sense of pride, not just in the children but also in their families. The children themselves have demonstrated leadership qualities, their memory, balance, facial expressions, coordination have improved. Repetitive actions enable them to retain what they have learned. Hence the need for continuity. The children and the teachers are ready to go ahead with another story, another performance.