BROADWAY VET FINDS MEANING IN MOTION.

DAVID CONNOLLY'S life demonstrates the quintessential balancing act between career and community service. A 1999 recipient of The Premiere of Ontario, Canada's Award of Excellence for outstanding contribution to the field of applied arts, the Broadway dancer, singer, and choreographer has lived a life that some may have thought impossible--and continues optimistically determined to give something back.

"Sure, there've been no's along the way--it's not a fairy tale," says Connolly, now 32, whose easy, loping gait--along with a successful professional career in musical theatre--belies the fact that he had both legs amputated below the knees when he was a child.

His mother's determination got the Nova Scotia infant accepted as a patient at Shriner's Hospital in Montreal, which didn't take children that young at the time. By age 3, Connolly had gone from wheelchair-bound baby with severe leg and feet deformities to a healthy toddler who learned to walk, run, and eventually dance with prostheses.

By the time Connolly graduated from the Music Theater Performance Program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Canada, he was already signed on to join the cast of Shenandoah for a summer revival that was headed to Broadway. A fellow cast member, actor Hal Linden, has said he was amazed when he found out about Connolly's disability. "It was about two weeks into the production before I found out that there was anything different about David, other than the fact that he had maybe a little more energy than the others, and a little more devotion to the emotional content of the scene," Linden said. "To have made a career as a professional dancer with no feet! Amazed, that's the only word I can use."

Connolly continued honing his skills, working as an associate producer/choreographer to Emmy Award-winning producer Anita Mann on projects like the 1995 Miss America Pageant and the 1997 Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon. Although he's based in Los Angeles now, Connolly has maintained a strong relationship with his alma mater, Sheridan College, returning every few years to teach master classes and to choreograph and direct shows. The college directly benefits from the $6,000 award he received from the Premiere of Ontario: The money will go into a yearly stipend for the David Connolly Apprenticeship Training Program for Music Theater Graduates (who have been out of college two years or more) to pursue training in directing and/or choreography. The program goes into effect this fall; the deadline for applying is this summer.

Creating the apprenticeship was, for Connolly, another step toward a dream. "My goal right now is to put my energy into something that has a reward bigger than box office receipts or prestige. For instance, when I was in college I had interests in directing and choreography, but there wasn't really a place to try it all out. Now, those who have the desire will get to cut their teeth without worries of financial stakes or reputations."

Though Connolly has surmounted the odds against a successful dance career, he says he sees himself as no different from any other performer; he talks about the risks, the rejections, and the struggle to perfect technique. "Although technique is extremely important, very early on for me it became about performing. I couldn't expend energy from my knees down, but I could from the knees up. At a certain level, everybody has enough talent to do the job. Then it comes down to who you are as a person.

"Never having known full legs--that's the blessing," he said. "Everyone has an obstacle to overcome, it's just that you can see mine. I've heard everything, the full spectrum, from people humoring me to others saying `if this kid's in ballet class, he can go anywhere' But as much as we hate to admit it in the moment, the no's can be just as valuable--they fuel the fire. Hey, it's a crazy career for anyone ... but in spite of it all, it's what I'm most suited to do."

In February, Connolly's CD If You Believe, debuted; proceeds from sales of the disc, available through www.ConnollyCD.com, go to The Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children.