New perspective

The past two days have been real eye-openers for me. On Wednesday, Emma, my sponsor, taught me the basics of how to dance in a wheelchair. Although I didn't expect it to be easy, I wasn't aware of the technicalities that came with wheelchair dancing. Each move, whether it requires a partner or not, has its own challenges. Certain moves require the right arm to push its wheel forward while the left arm pushes its wheel back, or vice versa. Along with this, when one is dancing in a wheelchair, they have to maintain at all times a consciousness of the distribution of their weight, as their weight determines whether they can turn, lean back, etc.

Unbeknownst to me, Mary Verdi-Fletcher, the founder of Dancing Wheels Company and School, is internationally known as the first ever wheelchair dancer. It is fair to say that the majority of the wheelchair dancing technique was created by her. So, when a dancer "feathers" their wheelchair, it means that they are gliding their hands over the wheels to slowly stop the wheels from moving. I found it very interesting to learn the dancing techniques not only so I could get a better feel for the different styles, but also to put myself in the shoes of the sit-down dancers who, unlike me, don't have the ability to get up out of the chair when they are done dancing.

Throughout the past couple days, I have started to gain a lot of perspective on the adversity that the sit-down dancers face in their day-to-day lives. Mary, the founder of the company, as well as Jenni, were both born with a disease known as "Spina Bifida", a disease that almost guarantees you non-functionable spine/legs, resulting in a life spent in a wheelchair. On the other hand, Jason, the third sit-down company member, was shot about five years ago, leaving him paralyzed in his legs and feet. Once I was given a glimpse of each sit-down dancers' situation, I began to look at the way they dance and move in a different, more appreciative light. I'm hoping to hear more of their stories in the weeks to come.