Breaking barriers with wheelchair dance

Back in the year 2000, all you’d see online about wheelchair dance was wheelchair ballroom dance videos or maybe something on wheelchair ballet, but not anymore. Oh no. Wheelchair dance has come a long way in the last decade, and Autingel of Push Girls, one of the best paralyzed hip-hop dancers in the world, has definitely helped make it more popular than ever. So we’ve uncovered a few others.

Mobile phone technology is the reason so much more wheelchair dance info is online, including the dozens of dance videos that are available. I’m always searching for videos that prove you can still be a dancer to be reckoned with even if you use a wheelchair, and these following videos do just that.

The first video profiles a young man from Russia who lost his leg car accident. He has invented this leg-crossing method to get into some very cool moves. Watch him perform to Michael Jackson’s “Beat it” and do one of his coolest moves – a wheelchair somersault. Also, check out this self proclaimed paralyzed “b-boy” from France, JimiStix.

The second video shows some seriously gorgeous wheelchair ballroom dancing from the BBC. Last year, a wheelchair ballroom dancing show premiered called Dancing on Wheels. In this video, showing contestant Diana dancing with a very dapper man to a fab Frank Sinatra song, you’ll see just how beautiful a woman sitting can be while dancing (I’m in love with the way her dress moves!).

And finally, the third video is actually a commercial from Spain. It shows a great female hip-hop wheelchair dancer. Watch her wheelchair dance with four able-bodied men in one of the most powerfully choreographed dances I’ve seen someone in a wheelchair be part of.

These wheelchair dance videos seriously inspire me. While I’ve yet to find a wheelchair hula dancer, or even a wheelchair belly dancer, I now believe anything is possible.

What kind of a wheelchair dance style do you prefer? Or would you not be caught dead on the dance floor?

Watch the videos!

–  Wheelchair breakdancer got the moves to motivate

–  Diana’s Dance – Dancing On Wheels – Series 1 Episode 5 Highlight – BBC Three

–  Sexy Girl in Wheelchair dances like no other