A Michigan organization is launching the country's first wheelchair dance competition.
Dance Mobility will be holding the first ever adapted ballroom dance competition for persons with disabilities in the U.S. on July 16 in metro Detroit.
The event, hosted by Fred Astaire Dance Studio-Bloomfield Hills, will feature ballroom dancers as young as 8 years-old who use a wheelchair or prosthetic limb. Dancers will perform as either single or combi, with one standing partner and one wheelchair partner.
The competition was inspired by the International Para Dance Sport competition, which takes place every two years. Dance Mobility's competition won't be recognized by World Para Dance Sport, but it will follow the organization's rules and regulations.
Dance Mobility was created by Paralympic medalist Cheryl Angelelli to foster hope for people with disabilities. The program provides free monthly wheelchair ballroom group lessons, led by certified dance instructors who teach styles from Waltz to Tango to Salsa.
Angelelli says the competition gives amputees and mobility-challenged people a chance to be center stage.
"At first it started as a wheelchair ballroom dance program but now it's expanded. We are working with amputees that use prosthetic limbs... we want to give these individuals the opportunity to compete," Angelelli told WXYZ. "It's all about the socialization, the peer support, the peer resources."
Among the youngest competitors is 8-year-old Jade Dixon, who has never let her paralysis slow her down. "I don't care if I win or lose, I just want to have fun," she told WXYZ.
If you'd like to participate in the competition, you have until July 1 to register. Find more information at dancemobility.org.
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