Last Saturday, many people with disabilities went to the first ballroom competition for people with disabilities, held in Dance Mobility and hosted by Cheryl Angelelli and Evan Mountain.
Dance Mobility was a wheelchair dancing program for adults and children. Teenagers and adults prepared four things before they went to the competition. Those of which prepared four things before they went into Dance Mobility to compete: makeup, hair, a lovely dress, and dance shoes.
The crowd was big: everybody wanted to see the dancers, and everybody wanted to cheer them on. Cheryl Angelelli and Evan Mountain are the co-founders of the new ballroom competition. “Representation matters, to be seen matters, to go into a room and see people that look like you is important,” Angelelli said. What Angelelli meant was that to go somewhere, see people just like you and being seen are important. Angelelli wanted to bring the opportunities of dancing in a wheelchair to the U.S because usually the competitions take place overseas. (overseas mean a foreign country) Angelelli was in the ballroom wheelchair dancing competition too, with her partner Tamerlan Gardirov, and she was ranked seventh.
14-year-old Eve Dahl thought dancing and competing with others just like her was worth the 7-hour long drive there from Wisconsin. Eve Dahl likes to do lyrical dancing as well as ballroom dancing, and she thinks that both are special to her. It was very nice to see the US catching up to what the other countries are doing, Eve’s dad, Lance, said. Eve has always loved to be on stage to perform for audiences. These tunes were used for the ballroom: waltz, tango, and cha-cha. It is exciting to see wheelchair dancers being happy to see others just like them!
Dance Mobility was a wheelchair dancing program for adults and children. Teenagers and adults prepared four things before they went to the competition. Those of which prepared four things before they went into Dance Mobility to compete: makeup, hair, a lovely dress, and dance shoes.
The crowd was big: everybody wanted to see the dancers, and everybody wanted to cheer them on. Cheryl Angelelli and Evan Mountain are the co-founders of the new ballroom competition. “Representation matters, to be seen matters, to go into a room and see people that look like you is important,” Angelelli said. What Angelelli meant was that to go somewhere, see people just like you and being seen are important. Angelelli wanted to bring the opportunities of dancing in a wheelchair to the U.S because usually the competitions take place overseas. (overseas mean a foreign country) Angelelli was in the ballroom wheelchair dancing competition too, with her partner Tamerlan Gardirov, and she was ranked seventh.
14-year-old Eve Dahl thought dancing and competing with others just like her was worth the 7-hour long drive there from Wisconsin. Eve Dahl likes to do lyrical dancing as well as ballroom dancing, and she thinks that both are special to her. It was very nice to see the US catching up to what the other countries are doing, Eve’s dad, Lance, said. Eve has always loved to be on stage to perform for audiences. These tunes were used for the ballroom: waltz, tango, and cha-cha. It is exciting to see wheelchair dancers being happy to see others just like them!
