Finally Learning Wheelchair Dance

We’ve seen videos of awesome wheelchair dancers before, but up until now there have never really been that many videos showing quite how it’s done. You can guess, maybe put two and two together if you took dance classes as an able-bodied person, but learning how to look really good while you dance in a wheelchair is no small feat.

That’s why we here at SPINALpedia love the internet. There are always new videos being published online, and a few recent ones finally show the world how to wheelchair dance.  If you’ve always wanted to learn, but don’t have classes anywhere near you, you will love the wheelchair dance videos below.

Our first video comes from the 2013 Wheelchair DanceSport SF Adjudicator’s Congress that occurred in Stuttgart, Germany earlier this year. It shows a lecture from paralyzed wheelchair dance sport instructor Corrie Van Hugten who’s been teaching wheelchair dance for decades.

In the video, she covers wheelchair dance sport basics such as the arm frame with your able-bodied partner and how to turn together as a couple keeping the frame. She also talks about how eye contact and harmony are key, illegal couple moves and why choosing a slower song is good for beginners. Watch clips from her lecture

Our second video shows one of the most romantic wheelchair dance videos I’ve ever seen – Aaron and May – a married couple, with May the wheelchair-user of the two. They never had a proper first dance when they were married 10 years ago. The two recently took a 6 week wheelchair dance course at the American DanceWheels Foundation’s new Cheryl Burke’s wheelchair dance school in Mountainview, CA.

And while there are a lot of beautiful wheelchair dance versions of popular dances out there – the tango, rumba, the cha-cha – the two decide to perform the rumba as their first dance to the onlookers at the school since inarguablely, it is considered the “dance of love.” Watch the happy couple perform

Our third video shows a beautiful, teary-eyed testimonial from a recent student at Cheryl Burke’s wheelchair dance school, Tamara Mena. She was paralyzed nearly a decade ago and grew up learning to love dance, which is a big part of family life when you grow up in a Latin culture.

But after her injury Tamara was afraid to dance. She even felt embarrassed at the awkwardness she felt whenever she was at an event when dancing was happening (knowing others weren’t sure how to deal with it around her). But now, after learning how to dance in her wheelchair, her confidence level has skyrocketed. Watch her testimonial on how wheelchair dance has given her “old life” back

It’s too bad wheelchair dance lessons are more widely available.  There’s so much good that can come from learning how to dance from a wheelchair – improved socialization, a cardio workout, improved self-esteem; let’s just hope these videos inspire more dance instructors to learn the basics of wheelchair dance and start teaching it more throughout the country.

Have you went to a wheelchair dance class before?  What was the hardest thing to learn?

– Find wheelchair dance lessons in near you

Watch the videos!

– Wheelchair DanceSport Academy teacher gives a 20 min lesson on the basics of wheelchair dance

– Hubby/wife duo finally have their first dance after learning wheelchair dance from Cheryl Burke’s new school

– Beautiful testimonial video for the American DanceWheels Association from Tamara Mena who just learned how to wheelchair dance